Security guard 'obsessed' with Holly Willoughby plotted to kidnap, rape and murder star - trial hears

A man has gone on trial accused of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby.

Gavin Plumb, a shopping centre security officer, unwittingly hatched the 'graphic' plans with an undercover police officer, Chelmsford Crown Court heard today on the opening day of his trial.

Plumb is charged with soliciting a man, David Nelson, to commit murder, and encouraging or assisting kidnap and rape. The 37-year-old denies all charges.

READ MORE: Holly Willoughby trial LIVE updates as Gavin Plumb in court accused of kidnap, rape and murder plot

Ms Willoughby waived her right to anonymity in connection with the charge of assisting or encouraging rape. Alleged victims of sex offences or targets of sex offence conspiracies have a right to automatic anonymity for life from the moment an allegation is made by them or anyone else.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the jury that the defendant developed an "obsession" with the star over a number of years, leading him to plan to kidnap her from her family home. He is alleged to have conspired online with the man he knew as Mr Nelson, who was to travel to the UK from the US, and created a “detailed plan” to carry out the offences.

Ms Morgan told the court that Plumb, who jurors heard had previous convictions for attempting to kidnap women, had purchased items which would “assist him in carrying out the attack”. She told jurors Plumb “commented on the appearance of women in a degrading manner” and outlined his past violence towards women – including tying the hands of a 16-year-old girl and attempted kidnaps on a train with the threat of a gun.

The court heard the defendant had told others online he had been sent to prison for offences of false imprisonment and kidnap to “bolster his credibility”. His earlier offences were detailed to the court, which the prosecution argued “tell you that this defendant knew what it would take to terrify and overpower a woman.”

The court heard Plumb had accumulated "many hundreds" of images of Ms Willoughby which he had accessed online, and his “obsessive behaviour extended to other celebrities and to women who lived in his local area”.

Ms Morgan said Plumb had shared "deepfake pornography images of Holly Willoughby" online with a person called Marc. The barrister said these were "using her (Ms Willoughby’s) face, putting it onto the body of another female to give images of her in pornographic situations".

She said the images were "highly sexualised". Ms Morgan told the jury that Plumb told Marc: "It’s been my ultimate fantasy for way too long. Fantasy isn’t enough any more. I want the real thing."

In her opening remarks to the jury on Monday, Ms Morgan said: “In October 2023, this defendant, Gavin Plumb, engaged in an online discussion with a person he believed to be called David Nelson. In that discussion, the defendant explained his plans to kidnap, rape and murder the celebrity Holly Willoughby.

“The defendant set out his plans and sought to encourage the other person to commit those offences with him. The defendant’s plans as to what he would do to Holly Willoughby were graphic and were obviously sexually motivated. They were real to him, members of the jury, and were based on an obsession with Holly Willoughby that had developed over a number of years.”

Outlining how Plumb came to be arrested, Ms Morgan said: "What the defendant did not know then, was that the person that he was communicating with online was an undercover police officer based in the USA and not, in fact, a like-minded abductor. The defendant’s planning of the offences was then interrupted and he was arrested by the police."

She added: "The prosecution’s case is that the online discussions that this defendant had revealed his real intentions to carry out a plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby from her family home, to take her to a location where she would be raped repeatedly, before the defendant then intended to kill her. It was not just the ramblings of a fantasist. The defendant had carefully planned what he would do and how he would do it, purchasing items that would assist him in carrying out that attack."

Ms Willoughby, 43, announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show.

The trial, which is expected to last for two weeks, continues.