The ex-girlfriend of a security guard convicted of a ‘graphic’ plot to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby today revealed her shock, claiming ‘that’s not the person I knew’.
Gavin Plumb, 37, developed an ‘obsession’ with the TV star over several years and had bought a restraint kit including chloroform, which he planned to use to kidnap the presenter in hopes of fulfilling his ‘ultimate fantasy’.
The obese man wept in court today as the jury delivered their verdict after he claimed he was not physically capable of abducting the former This Morning Presenter as he had no one to drive him to her home.
Speaking after his conviction, Plumb’s former partner Ellie Hoad said: ‘It really shocked me because that is not the person I knew. He never showed any signs of that when I knew him, whatsoever.
‘So the fact he’s gone like this, I don’t even know how to explain it.’
Gavin Plumb, 37, developed an ‘obsession’ with the TV star over several years and had bought a restraint kit including chloroform
Plumb’s former partner Ellie Hoad today revealed her shock about what Plumb had done
Holly Willoughby pictured attending the National Television Awards in 2023
Throughout his trial, Plumb had insisted the vile conversations he had with ‘like-minded’ people on the dark web was just ‘online chat’.
But the jury at Chelmsford Crown Court, who took 12 hours and 19 minutes to unanimously convict him, dismissed his claims that the plans were a ‘mere fantasy’.
They agreed with the prosecution who called Plumb a ‘prolific lair who sought to minimise the extent of his criminality’.
The court had been presented with a raft of evidence throughout the trial as they were shown Plumb’s plan to kidnap Ms Willoughby before taking her to an isolated stud farm for sexual torture.
Jurors were taken through a lengthy ‘sequence of events’ document, which displayed Plumb’s ‘appalling messages’ to others about what he would do to the Dancing On Ice presenter.
Gavin Plumb, 37, being arrested by police for planning to kidnap Holly Willoughby
The equipment was found at the home of Gavin Plumb, 37, who planned to tie up the TV presenter’s family before kidnapping her, jurors have been told
Plumb was heard discussing the horrifying plot to abduct, rape and then kill the 43-year-old presenter during a series of horrifying voice notes played to the court.
The shocking recordings were sent to a potential accomplice called Marc, with Plumb saying he was looking for a place to ‘hold’ Holly after ambushing her at her family home.
‘Nothing’s confirmed yet, mate. Don’t celebrate too early but it looks like… back on track for once,’ Plumb says, before adding: ‘Obviously, you’ll find out when everything is planned. Yeah, we’ll go from there.’
Through the trial, Plumb, who enjoyed dressing up in a batman shirt, was also heard talking about how he planned to appear at Ms Willoughby’s house in the middle of the night, using chloroform to subdue her and her husband Dan Baldwin, 49.
‘Plan of action, basically, we are going to hit it at night, less traffic on the road,’ Plumb said. ‘Chloroform both of them, making them easier to restrain. Pick out outfits of hers we like, take her and the outfits with us and then we’re gone.
‘We are then going to 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.’
A bottle of chloroform, shown to Chelmsford Crown Court in the court case of Gavin Plumb, who masterminded a plot to kidnap, rape and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby
Plumb even shared a video showing some of the kit he had bought online to help restrain Holly
Two bottles of chloroform were later discovered by police during a raid on his home in Harlow, Essex.
The defendant, who adopted the user name Big Bear to chat to others about his plot online, appeared to formulate his fantasy as early as 2011 – googling the phrase ‘how to meet people who plan to kidnap celebs’.
In another chilling audio clip, Plumb is heard saying: ‘The chloroform bit is going to be fun, picking the outfits is going to be fun. So if you can get to the UK, to England that’ll be awesome because then you can be part of it.’
The court heard Plumb had assembled a ‘restraint kit’ which he bought online.
In a video played to jurors, Plumb is seen showing off all the items, which included four packs of 100 metal cable ties he bought from Amazon, handcuffs, ankle shackles, rope and a ball gag.
The court was told the 37-year-old shared a video of a ‘bondage kit’ with an undercover officer called David Nelson in an online forum called ‘Abduct Lovers’.
He also spoke with another associate about buying realistic-looking air weapons ‘from pistols to sniper rifles’.
A court heard the 37-year-old – who liked to wear a Batman t-shirt – described it as his ‘ultimately fantasy’ to kidnap Ms Willoughby, adding: ‘Fantasy isn’t enough any more. I want the real thing’
Plumb had gathered a sickening trove of bondage gear, including handcuffs, zip ties and rope
He filmed the items he bought online, which he planned to use to tie up the TV star
But his plans were foiled when one of his potential accomplices, who went by the name of David Nelson, turned out to be an undercover officer from the Owatonna Police Department in the US state of Minnesota.
Jurors also heard that Plumb had form when it came to ‘terrifying real women’, as he had convictions for attempted kidnap and false imprisonment following three incidents involving four women in 2006 and 2008.
After being discovered by the undercover cop, who had alerted the UK authorities, Plumb was arrested on October 4 last year.
The court heard how Plumb had been planning to kidnap Willoughby ‘for about two and a half years’ and wanted to ‘slit her throat’.
On the third day of his trial, jurors were shown more material from a ‘sequence of events’, including hundreds of communications he had with others online, as he tried to put together a ‘crew’ to help him attack Willoughby and other celebrities.
However, the court heard Plumb began his research into kidnapping stars more than a decade ago.
When police seized his phone, they discovered in 2011, he had looked up ‘how to meet people who plan to kidnap celebrities’.
In more voice notes, Plumb is heard saying Willoughby was the ‘original target’ but he and others had about ’15 cells’ they were ‘looking at filling’.
Talking about Willoughby and another potential target, the security guard added: ‘We could do both at the same time – meet up, swap vehicles, get both in the same vehicle, take them to their new location basically.’
Plumb, who has previous convictions for trying to kidnap two women on trains and tying a 16-year-old girl up at knifepoint, also researched a news story about an American college student being abducted.
Jurors heard police recovered millions of images of Holly and other female celebs on his devices following his arrest. Plumb had also shared deepfake pornography of her online.
The 37-year-old fiend spent years fixating on the former This Morning star – tracking her movements and activities for ‘some time’.
In May 2022, Plumb sought to book a tour of ITV’s studios, telling accomplice Marc, who is believed to have been based in Ireland: ‘I’m calling the studio tours tomorrow to see if they’re still available and if you meet presenters.’
Plumb never went on such a tour, with Essex Police Detective Constable Will Belsham telling jurors there was no evidence to she he had followed through with this plan.
Earlier in the trial, Plumb claimed he wanted to try and use his security training to get close to Willoughby, working as part of her protection team.
‘I have passed my SIA [Security Industry Authority] licence so might try to use it to become her security guard,’ he said.
In other messages, Plumb detailed an abandoned stud farm in the country as a place where he could ‘keep’ Holly locked away while he violated her.
He detailed the plans with associate Marc, telling him: ‘I’m at the point where idc (I don’t care) about the risks or consequences.’
He went online to search the term ‘how long does chloroform take to knock someone unconscious?’
On June 1, 2023, Plumb wrote: ‘I’ve had a member of the Holly group reach out to me. He knows the location of an abandoned building and he’s up for it big time…
‘We’re gonna go and do stakeout and bang job done, s**** going down as it stands.’
These are some of the pictures Plumb was found to have of Ms Willoughby
Plumb is said to have reacted to Philip Schofield leaving This Morning by saying ‘I’m so tempted to message Phil and say to him ‘Look do you wanna get payback?”
Ms Willoughby, 43, announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show
Messaging each other a few days after Phillip Schofield left This Morning in May last year, Plumb wrote: ‘I’m so tempted to message Phil and say to him ‘Look do you wanna get payback? But I don’t mind helping ya.’
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Plumb had ‘carefully planned’ his plot – before he was foiled by the authorities.
In her opening speech, the barrister told jurors: ‘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.’
She said Plumb had intended 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,’ Ms Morgan added. ‘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.’
His sentencing will take place on July 12 at the same court.
