Holly Willoughby 'obsessed' security guard plotted to kidnap, rape and murder TV star, court hears
Ms Willoughby has waived her right to anonymity in connection with an accusation against Plumb of assisting or encouraging rape, ITV News' Sejal Karia reports.
Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing
A shopping centre security officer plotted to rape and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby after taking her to a “dungeon” where her “screams" would not be "be heard for miles”, a court was told.
Gavin Plumb is accused of planning to kidnap, assault and solicit the killing of the former This Morning star - all of which he denies.
During the trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, on Monday, the 37-year-old described kidnapping Ms Willoughby as his “ultimate fantasy”, adding, “fantasy isn’t enough anymore. I want the real thing.”
Jurors were told Plumb, who allegedly developed an obsession with the star over a number of years, had 10,322 photos of her on his phone.
Under the username “BigBear”, Plumb spoke to people online about how Ms Willoughby would be killed and “disposed” of.
Ms Willoughby has waived her right to anonymity in connection with the accusation against Plumb of assisting or encouraging rape.
Victims of alleged sex offences or targets of sex offence conspiracies have a right to automatic anonymity for life from the moment an accusation is made by them or anyone else.
The jury was played voice messages sent to a man named Marc, in which Plumb said he would “pick out outfits for her we like” and spoke about the use of chloroform.
One voice message said: “We’re then going to force her to make a video that she came with us under her own free will… so that covers us.”
Jurors were also told he had shared “deepfake pornography images of Holly Willoughby” online with a person called Marc, which were “highly sexualised”.
Plumb had boasted of his previous convictions and jail time for false imprisonment and attempted kidnap in order to “bolster his credibility,” the jury was told.
Prosecutors allege his past convictions – including tying a 16-year-old girl’s hands behind her back with rope and tape, and the attempted kidnap of women on a train with the threat of a gun – showed he knew “what it would take to terrify and overpower a woman”.
Plumb is also charged with soliciting a man, David Nelson, to commit murder and encouraging or assisting kidnap and rape.
Allegedly the defendant conspired online with a man, who he knew as Mr Nelson, 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 had purchased items such as metal cable ties, which would “assist him in carrying out the attack”.
The plans allegedly involved attempting to “ambush” the presenter at her family home, and he is accused of discussing taking time off work in order to work on the plot.
The trial, which is expected to last for two weeks, continues.
Ms Willoughby, 43, announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show.
She said in a social media post at the time that she felt: "I have to make this decision for me and my family."
The presenter has since hosted Dancing on Ice , and is to present a Netflix show - to be released next year - in which adventurer Bear Grylls hunts down celebrities in the jungle.
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