Suspect 'tried to kidnap two women on train'
Gavin Plumb had "real life" experience of violence towards women, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC says, including trying to kidnap two women in 2006.
The court hears he approached a woman on a train, sat opposite her and stared at her before passing her a note.
Jurors are read the note, which says: "Have got a gun. All you have to do is keep quiet. Do what I say. So just stand up and get off at the next stop with me. Don't cry or make a sound.
"Don't stop me from touching you because I won't hurt you. If you do all of this, no one will get hurt but if you don't I am going to shoot you and myself and everyone else."
The "terrified" victim started to cry and others came to help and Plumb tore up the note and ran off at the next stop, the jury is told.
Two days later, he tried to force another woman to get off a train with him while armed with an imitation firearm and three rope ligatures, the court hears.
He passed her a note and claimed to be a police officer, the prosecutor says, but she refused and reported the incident to police.
Plumb 'targeted 16-year-old shop workers'
The court hears of an incident in 2008, involving false imprisonment, when Gavin Plumb approached two 16-year-old girls, who were colleagues in a shop he worked at, and said: "Get to the back of the stockroom."
He held a knife towards them, told them to turn around and took rope and tape out of his pocket which he used to tie the hands of one of the girls, the jury is told.
But the other girl managed to escape, police were called and Plumb was arrested, says prosecutor Alison Morgan KC, who adds the victims were both "terrified".
"These were real offences, committed against real women," she says. "They tell you that this defendant knew what it would take to terrify and overpower a woman.
"He was also someone who had done this for real and not just as a fantasy."
Lots more at link.
Shopping centre security guard Gavin Plumb, 37, is accused of planning a plot to kidnap, rape and murder the former This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby. Warning: some readers may find the details of the allegations distressing.
news.sky.com