Undercover officer felt Harlow security guard Gavin Plumb was 'imminent threat' to Holly Willoughby

  • The defendant denies soliciting murder, incitement to rape and incitement to kidnap, as ITV News' Neil Connery reports.

A security guard charged with plotting the rape, kidnap and murder of Holly Willoughby had enough information to pose an "imminent threat" to the TV star, said the undercover officer who raised the alarm.

The officer, who has been granted anonymity to protect his and his family’s safety and “his effectiveness as an undercover officer”, said he had to find out who Ms Willoughby was while speaking with Gavin Plumb.

The witness recalled being sent an image of what he described as an “abduction kit”, telling the Chelmsford Crown Court: “At that point in the conversation it was quite alarming.”

The officer, from the Owatonna Police Department in the US state of Minnesota, said he showed Plumb a flight confirmation in their online conversations in order “to show him that I was willing to accomplice him in this act”.

The court was told that, after Plumb was arrested, he refused to provide his PIN (personal identification number), saying: “You don’t need that now.”

He also said to officers: “I mean, based on what you’ve said I can pretty much guess what you’re looking for.”

The court heard that the defendant, described by his barrister as “in the region of 30 stone” when he was taken into custody, later added: “As I said, it’s totally taken me by surprise. I know what it’s about, I can tell you, I reckon, I, I know what it’s about.”

A jury was told the 37-year-old defendant had posted on a messaging application online to say he had a “load of info” on the former This Morning presenter and when she “does and don’t [sic] have security”.

Giving evidence on Thursday, the witness, who used the alias David Nelson as he appeared via video link from the US, said he messaged Plumb directly when he saw the public post in a chat called “Abduct Lovers”.

Plumb had assembled an ‘abduction kit’ to help him carry out the attack Credit: Crown Prosecution Service/PA

He agreed that he assumed “various fake identities” as part of his undercover work and that the one used in this investigation had been “active for about three years” at the time.

The witness told jurors that he looked for instances of human trafficking and kidnapping among other things in his role.

The officer said that through his role, the group “Abduct Lovers” had come to his attention because of its name.

After seeing the public post from Plumb which said he had a “load of info” on Ms Willoughby, he said the post had caused him enough “concern” to message him privately.

Under questioning from defence barrister Sasha Wass KC, the officer agreed that he feared Plumb “must be approaching” Ms Willoughby after reading the post.

The officer said in evidence that he passed information about Plumb to the FBI.

Gavin Plumb sent the undercover officer a route from his house to Ms Willoughby's, the court heard. Credit: PA

He told the court he asked the defendant how far it was from his address to where Ms Willoughby lived “to figure out where Mr Plumb was located”.

The jury heard that Plumb sent the officer a screenshot of a Google map showing the route from his address to Ms Willoughby’s.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC, said that on October 4 last year, there was a “meeting” with “representatives from the FBI”.

The officer replied “yes there was”, and also agreed that it involved contact with the Metropolitan Police.

Ms Morgan said: “And during the course of that liaison between the FBI and the Metropolitan Police were you providing up-to-date information from the chat you had had with the defendant?”

The officer replied: “Yes.”

He also agreed that the information was “being passed on effectively for authorities in the UK to deal with”.

Pictures of metal cable ties and bottles of chloroform, which prosecutors say were part of Gavin Plumb's plot, were shown to the jury. Credit: Crown Prosecution Service

The undercover officer agreed that the defendant shared “what appeared to be the address” of Holly Willoughby with him online.

Questioned by Ms Morgan, he agreed that Plumb shared “information about the vehicle used by Ms Willoughby”.

He said that Plumb also sent a photo of bottles of chloroform.

The officer explained: “Earlier in the conversation he had indicated he had chloroform.

“It was not present in that photo of his abduction kit – I asked where the chloroform was and he sent a picture of chloroform.”

Plumb is accused of attempting to live his “ultimate fantasy” and was described by the prosecution as someone who had an “obsession” with Ms Willoughby.

The defendant, of Harlow, Essex, denies soliciting murder, incitement to rape and incitement to kidnap.

The trial continues.