Plotter urged convicted paedophile to help him kidnap and murder Holly Willoughby

A man who devised a plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby encouraged a convicted paedophile and stalker to assist him, The Telegraph can reveal.

Gavin Plumb was found guilty of soliciting the murder, rape and abduction of the former This Morning presenter at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday.

During his trial, it emerged that the 37 year-old had discussed his depraved plans with a man he met in an online chat room called “Marc”.

Now, it can be reported that the person behind the anonymous account was in fact Mark Mulligan, who is a convicted paedophile and stalker from Dublin, in Ireland.

Mulligan was jailed in November 2014 for three and a half years after he admitted stalking a woman and discussed raping her young son.

He also discussed sexually assaulting TV personalities and their children.

The then 39 year-old also admitted possessing child pornography when his home was raided on July 7 2013.

He was also found guilty of a third charge, which he denied, of producing child pornography.

When he was interviewed by police, Mulligan said he had developed a fantasy world for himself because he was lonely, and that this led to online conversations with another man in which he discussed raping and torturing children.

Mulligan also took part in online conversations in which he made sexually explicit references to RTE and TV3 reporters and “celebrities” and their children.

Police discovered transcripts of these “chats” during a search of Mulligan’s home as part of a separate investigation into the stalking allegation.

In that case, Mulligan sent the first victim a threatening text message and an image of a dismembered doll as part of his “rape fantasy”.

Mulligan had said he would “love to rape” the three-year-old son of a woman he knew, because she “p----- him off”.

When the other man said, “let’s snatch him,” Mulligan replied: “Mmmm, make him watch us kill his Mum and Dad and then kill him.”

He later told gardai that the conversations were all just “sick fantasies”.

The jury at Chelmsford Crown Court was played a voice note Mr Plumb sent to “Marc” in March 2023 in which he outlined a plan to “hit” Ms Willoughby’s house at night before using chloroform to incapacitate her.

“We’re then gonna force her to make a video saying she came with us under her own free will… and she’s fully consenting to everything we do to her – so that covers us,” Mr Plumb said in the voice note.

In June 2022, Plumb shared an image with Mulligan of a “dungeon-type room” that he described as “being big enough for a bed”.

Mulligan replied that “her screams would not be heard for miles”.

The court was told the pair shared graphic deep fake pornographic images of Willoughby and Plumb said he had scouted out abandoned farm buildings for the kidnap plot.

It was also heard he messaged Marc saying: “I’m now at the point that fantasy isn’t enough anymore. I want the real thing.”

Plumb shared images of Willoughby’s home and they discussed where would be a good point to “ambush” the presenter.

The pair both shared details of their previous convictions for offences against women and also discussed carrying out further attacks against other unnamed celebrities.

Alison Morgan KC, prosecuting, said that despite the conversations between the pair going on for almost two years, “Marc did not take the plans forward in the way [Plumb] had hoped”.