A former security guard obsessed with Holly Willoughby has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years for masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder the TV presenter.
Gavin Plumb, 37, carefully planned a “home invasion” at Willoughby’s property where he planned to tie her up and rape her in front of her family before murdering her and disposing of her body in an abandoned building on the outskirts of London.
He had amassed more than 10,000 images of Willoughby on his phone, including deepfake pornography, and was caught after unwittingly communicating online with an undercover police officer based in the US.
During his trial at Chelmsford crown court, the jury heard that Plumb had previous convictions for attempted kidnap and false imprisonment. Using a fake gun and threatening note, he tried to force two female airline workers off trains in separate incidents in 2006, and he attempted to tie up two teenage girls in a Woolworths stock room in 2008.
He was found guilty last week of three charges: soliciting murder, encouraging or assisting the commission of kidnap, and encouraging or assisting the commission of rape.
During the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor, Alison Morgan KC, said Willoughby, who did not attend any of the court proceedings, wished for her victim personal statement to be private but said it set out the “catastrophic impact of these offences”.
Morgan added: “The impact of this offending has been life-changing for the victim of these offences – both in private and personal terms – private, personal and indeed professional.”
Sentencing Plumb, Mr Justice Murray said: “There is no doubt that if you had genuinely found one or more accomplices who were seriously interested in and had been willing to join you in carrying your plan through then you would have put this plan into action.”
The judge sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years, minus the 280 days he had spent on remand. Accounting for the time served, it leaves 15 years and 85 days remaining on the minimum term.
He said: “Over a number of years, you pursued an unhealthy sexual obsession with Holly Willoughby that led you ultimately to plan over that period to kidnap, to rape and to murder her. You intended to harm her husband and her children as part of your plan.
“You had previously been convicted of terrifying offences involving the threat of sexual violence against four different young women. I found you to be dangerous.
“The jury saw through your various lies that you told at the trial, and convicted you of these offences.”
Willoughby stepped down from her role as presenter of ITV’s This Morning six days after Plumb was arrested on 4 October 2023, after 14 years on the show. She returned to screens as the co-host of Dancing on Ice this year.
For his planned attack on Willoughby, Plumb had bought cable ties and a folding knife, and appeared to have sourced chloroform. He had also engaged in graphic and sexually motivated discussions about it online.
He was unaware that one of the people with whom he was communicating was an undercover officer based in Owatonna police department in Minnesota, who alerted UK authorities, leading to Plumb’s arrest.
Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, gathered information about Willoughby on social media and followed her activities and movements. He identified where she lived in December 2021 and shared images of her home with someone online referred to as “Marc”, who the court heard was thought to live in Ireland and had boasted of being convicted of stalking.
Plumb shared images of Willoughby’s address and discussed “a home invasion” while wearing masks, and he discussed the layout of the property, gates, CCTV and the alley to the side. He also discussed identifying “abandoned places” outside London, trying to get on a tour of the ITV studios, and using his training as a security officer to get employment with Willoughby.
The jury was played a voice note Plumb sent in which he explained his “plan of action”, which included picking “outfits of hers that we like”.
In early October 2023, the US police officer in Owatonna, using the name David Nelson, was monitoring conversations in a group called “Abduct lovers”, which discusses the abduction of others, and their torture and murder.
Under the identity “BigBear”, Plumb posted pictures of Willoughby, then not recognised by the officer, and boasted about her security arrangements. The detailed nature of the messages concerned the officer, who reported him to the Metropolitan police via the FBI.
When Plumb was arrested, in a video seen by the jury, he told police officers: “I’m not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine.”
After the sentencing, Essex police’s senior investigating officer, DCI Greg Wood, said: “This case has brought violence against women and girls and misogyny to the fore. It has demonstrated that all of us, whoever we are and whatever we do, have much to do to stamp out this scourge on our society. It cannot be right that men like Gavin Plumb are able to join online forums where they vent their hatred towards women and girls and plot to harm them.”
