By Connor Stringer and Will Bolton
London: British television star Holly Willoughby says women should not be made to feel unsafe in their own homes after a security guard was convicted of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder her.
Gavin Plumb, from Harlow, Essex, was found guilty of planning “unspeakable violence” against the former This Morning host following a week-long trial.
Television presenter Holly Willoughby poses for photographers upon arrival for the Pride of Britain Awards in 2018.Credit: AP
The 37-year-old shook his head and closed his eyes before sobbing in the dock as the jury announced its unanimous verdict after 12 hours and 19 minutes deliberation. He could now face life imprisonment and will be sentenced on July 12.
The security guard had been attempting to live his “ultimate fantasy” and was described by the prosecution as someone who had an “obsession” with Willoughby.
In a statement following the verdict, Willoughby, who waived her right to anonymity, said: “As women we should not be made to feel unsafe going about our daily lives and in our own homes. I will forever be grateful to the undercover police officer who understood the imminent threat, and to the Metropolitan and Essex police forces for their swift response.”
She thanked the prosecutors, the judge, and the members of the jury for “ensuring that justice was done and that [Plumb] will not be able to harm any more women”.
She added: “I would also like to commend the bravery of his previous victims for speaking up at the time. Without their bravery this conviction may not have been possible.”
The week-long trial heard how Plumb had made an “abduction kit”, complete with metal cable ties, handcuffs, a ball gag and a blindfold, in preparation for the attack.
He scouted Willoughby’s home address in advance of a potential home invasion and searched for abandoned buildings where he could “keep” the former This Morning presenter, the prosecution told jurors.
Officers stormed Plumb’s flat on October 4 last year after he unwittingly revealed his plot to an American undercover officer online.
Gavin Plumb’s mugshot was released by Essex police after his conviction.Credit: Essex Police
Detectives examining his phone and devices discovered “vast” amounts of images of women – 10,322 of which were of Willoughby.
So vast was the amount of material that officers were only able to analyse around 10 per cent, amounting to “more than tens of thousands of images”, Detective Constable William Belsham, of Essex Police, told jurors.
Plumb, a father-of-two, was also found to have made web searches including “how to meet people who plan to kidnap celebs” and “what does it feel like to be raped” in 2021.
In “sexualised” messages on WhatsApp, Wickr and Kik between Plumb and a man called Marc, the pair exchanged 57 images of Willoughby across 46 WhatsApp messages between January 12 and January 19, 2022. Nine of these images were “deepfake pornography”, Alison Morgan, KC, prosecuting, said.
Jurors heard how Plumb had sent voice notes detailing his plan to hold Willoughby at his home, which he had rigged with CCTV cameras.
As part of his preparations for the attack, he ordered bottles of Chloroform from a homeopathy website, which he claimed were to clean a stain on the floor.
Plumb’s violence against women began in 2006, when he was given a 12-month suspended sentence after attempting to force two stewardesses off a train using a fake gun and a threatening note on two separate occasions.
He was later jailed for 32 months after an attack on two teenage girls in 2008, in which he threatened them with a “box-cutter/Stanley knife-type instrument”.
During her closing speech, Morgan said Plumb, who used the username “Big Bear” online, went to “great lengths to suggest to other people it was not fantasy”.
Following the guilty verdicts, Detective Chief Inspector Greg Wood, Essex Police’s senior investigating officer, said Plumb was a “dangerous, predatory individual”.
He continued: “He was not just simply obsessed with Holly Willoughby; he meticulously and carefully planned, over a number of years, to carry out a depraved and violent attack, in which he plotted to deprive her of her liberty and ultimately her life.
“His claims in court that he was a ‘fantasist’ are simply not true and were evidenced by the extent with which he plotted with others to carry out his wicked plan.”
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Plumb had “plotted unspeakable violence against one of the nation’s most familiar faces”.
“The chilling details of his plans were laid bare with the help of an undercover officer from the US who alerted the FBI to the threat, and the seriousness of Plumb’s scheme was exposed when the prosecution successfully applied to tell the jury about Plumb’s previous convictions.
“I hope his conviction brings some comfort to Holly Willoughby and her family, and shows others that the Crown Prosecution Service will always seek the strongest possible charges against those who plot violence against women.”
The Telegraph, London
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