Gavin Plumb’s plans to kidnap, rape and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby had a ‘life changing’ impact on the TV star, a court has heard.
The 37-year-old intended to ambush the former This Morning presenter at her London home, using chloroform to knock Ms Willoughby and her husband Dan Baldwin.
He then aimed to take her to an isolated ‘dungeon’ he described as ‘death row’, where he would hold the star, repeatedly raping her before slitting her throat and murdering her.
Plumb wept after jurors unanimously convicted him of soliciting murder and inciting rape and kidnap following an earlier trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, where he is today being sentenced.
His ‘carefully planned’ plot was said to have a ‘catastrophic’ and ‘life changing’ impact on the This Morning presenter. The court also heard his plans were ‘so depraved and vile’ that they were not reported by the media.
Gavin Plumb was convicted him of soliciting murder and inciting rape and kidnap following a trial last week
An artist’s drawing of Plumb at Chelmsford Crown Court at the start of his trial
Last week Plumb was found guilty of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby
Plumb planned his ‘home invasion’ of Ms Willoughby’s London property with accomplices he met on the web.
As part of his online chats, the defendant sent a potential accomplice a video of restraint ‘kit’ items laid out on a bed, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
In a message from Plumb read to the court, he outlined the masked raid, saying: ‘We break in when they are in bed, we hold both at a weapon point, tell both to roll over on there [sic] fronts with there [sic] hands behind their backs. With Dan we use the metal cable ties, with Holly we’ll use the handcuffs etc…’
He planned to use chloroform on Holly and her husband Dan Baldwin while striking in the dead of night.
Jurors heard that Plumb assembled a ‘restraint kit’, which he filmed laid out on his bed. Hand and ankle shackles, a ball gag, cat o’nine tails, metal cable ties and rope were among the items said to have been put together by the 37-year-old.
Earlier in the trial the jury heard Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, discussing a ‘dungeon-style room’ big enough for a bed where the 43-year-old presenter would be held captive.
He allegedly said the things he planned to do to the former This Morning host would put him on ‘death row’.
Plumb’s chilling kidnap kit, in a photo shown to Chelmsford Crown Court during his trial
Turning to the offending of the 37-year-old during his sentencing today, Alison Morgan KC said: ‘My Lord knows of the extreme and gratuitous degradation of the victim that was planned by this defendant.
‘Degradation that was so depraved and vile that they were, by agreement, not reported in detail by representatives of the media.’
Ms Morgan KC said the case had a ‘catastrophic impact’ on Holly Willoughby and had been ‘life changing for the victim… both in private and personal terms and, indeed, professionally’.
‘The extent of the shock and fear of this offending has been impossible to convey… it’s investable that [the trial] has exacerbated the trauma for this victim.
‘We say more broadly that offending of this type, as Miss Willoughby said in her public statement has a broad impact on women. Women should not feel unsafe when going about their daily lives.’
Ms Morgan gave details of victim impact statements made by two of Plumb’s previous victims, although she conceded they didn’t have a direct bearing on the offences the defendant was being sentenced for today.
The first was from one of the air stewardesses who Plumb attempted to kidnap in 2006, although the prosecutor said she wasn’t naming her.
‘She felt extremely vulnerable. She was crying. She burst into tears. She then recalls how she felt having been told that as a result of that offence the defendant receiving a suspended sentence.
‘She then realised that this defendant would be able to know where she was. to find her potentially. To know from the circumstances of the offence the clothing that she was wearing, where she walked.
‘She sought support from the police in that regard and felt vulnerable for some time.
‘She lived in the same area and used the same routes. That sense of vulnerability was only removed when she moved from the area.
‘She feared all men as perpetrators and when near men whether she was safe.
‘She stopped going out after dark and looked around her to see if anyone was there.’
The fiend discussed his plans to kidnap, rape and murder the TV presenter with a US-based policeman
An artist’s drawing of Plumb at Chelmsford Crown Court at the start of his trial on Monday
The 37-year-old kept hundreds of photos of Ms Willoughby on his phone, three of which were shown to the jury
Using the woman’s words directly, she added: ‘I clearly remember when Gavin Plumb grabbed my leg. How it felt to have his hand on me. It was a disgusting feeling.
‘Knowing of these [new] offences, it has brought up a lot of emotions.’
The second victim impact statement came from a woman who was a teenager when she was falsely imprisoned by Plumb in 2008 when he bundled her and another girl at knifepoint into a stockroom at Woolworths where they all worked.
Miss Morgan said: ‘She felt a permanent sense of worry as the defendant remained in the same area as she did in Harlow.
‘She worried she would bump into him when he was released. Although there was an order that stopped him from contacting her, she felt a sense of fear returning to work and in particular where the incident took place.
‘Hearing of these matters made her think of what could have happened to her if she had not managed to run away from him.
‘She’s thankful it did not turn out worse.’