Security guard Gavin Plumb, 37, was found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court of masterminding a scheme to abduct, rape, and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby.
A security officer has been convicted guilty of orchestrating “graphic” plots to abduct, rape, and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby.
Gavin Plumb developed a “obsession” with the actress over several years and constructed a “abduction kit” – complete with handcuffs and metal cable ties – to aid in his attack.
A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court dismissed the 37-year-old’s claim that his ambitions were a “mere fantasy,” agreeing with the prosecution that he was a “prolific liar who sought to minimise the extent of his criminality.”
The jury unanimously found him guilty of soliciting murder, inciting rape, and kidnapping.
Plumb gently shook his head and gazed down at the floor as the judgments were read.
The defendant, who used the user name Big Bear to communicate with others about his plan online, appears to have developed his desire as early as 2011 – searching for “how to meet people who plan to kidnap celebrities.”
During the trial, jurors were shown a lengthy “sequence of events” document that detailed Plumb’s “appalling messages” to others about what he intended to do to the Dancing On Ice host.
His preparations were halted when one of his possible collaborators, David Nelson, was revealed to be an undercover cop from the Owatonna Police Department in Minnesota, USA.
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Plumb told Mr Nelson he was “definitely serious” about his scheme to kidnap Ms Willoughby, giving the officer the appearance of a “imminent threat” to her.
Evidence was turned over to the FBI, and the defendant was detained on October 4 last year at his flat in Harlow, Essex, where he told authorities, “I’m not gonna lie, she’s a fantasy of mine.”
His kidnapping ideas included attempting to “ambush” Ms Willoughby at her family home, and he even considered taking time off work to plan the crime.
Plumb informed others that he would then take the presenter to another location, which he described as a “dungeon”-style room.
The jury was told he went to an abandoned stud farm with cells to “keep” Ms Willoughby.
The defendant’s conversations revealed that he intended to rape her at the site before killing her and throwing her “into a lake at night”.
Plumb’s plot was characterized as “carefully planned” by prosecutors, citing the goods he had purchased and the lengths he had gone to find out when Ms Willoughby did not have protection.
In her opening statement to the jury, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC described his previous convictions for false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping, claiming that they demonstrated he “knew what it would take to terrify and overpower a woman”.
Ms Morgan emphasized the obvious weaknesses in Plumb’s defence at the end of the trial, stating the “boring details” of his intentions were neither “sexy or gratifying”.
Plumb told jurors that he purchased vials of chloroform to clear a carpet stain and claimed he bought a BDSM equipment, including a set of handcuffs, in 2014 “to rekindle my relationship with my ex-partner”
He stated that he studied articles about “what it’s like to be raped” in 2021 to assist a female acquaintance, and that he did not originally hand over his phone’s Pin number to cops due to previous “problems” with the police.
The defendant also used his “between 25-30 stone” weight as a defence, arguing that it would be impossible for him to “jump” over Ms Willoughby’s garden wall, as he had stated in texts.
He told jurors that his internet talks were “massively regrettable” and that he was “heartbroken, disgusted, and shocked” that they had become public.
Plumb will be sentenced in the same court on Friday, July 12.
