UK - Gavin Plumb, 36, arrested and charged with plot to kidnap and kill ITV presenter Holly Willoughby - Harlow, 4 Oct 2023

[imstilla.grandma]

Holly Willoughby left her role at This Morning in October, after 14 years as a presenter

Gavin Plumb, pictured in 2014, was remanded in custody

Man denies alleged plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby

Gavin Plumb is accused of soliciting to murder and incitement to kidnap the TV presenter.

www.bbc.com

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/security-officer-pleads-not-guilty-to-plotting-to-kidnap-and-murder-holly-willoughby/96mb22w

 

[StillDiggin]

Holly Willoughby 'murder and kidnap' suspect is denied bail

Gavin Plumb, 36, has pleaded not guilty to charges of soliciting murder and incitement to commit kidnap the former This Morning host Holly Willoughby.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Legally Bland]

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.

Holly Willoughby case latest: Security guard Gavin Plumb on trial for 'plotting to kidnap, rape and kill' presenter

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

 

[Parker Knoll]

Love or loathe Holly this man should not be roaming the streets.
I would be utterly terrified if I were her.
I know his “ master plan “ sounds ludicrous in the extreme as I find it incredulous that somehow he could break into Hollys house which I suspect is like Fort Knox, disable her husband and kidnap her, stranger things have happened. Before this she was out and about without any security ( from what I have ever seen or heard of ) and if he had a weapon ( he carried knives before ) it would be very easy to get someone to do what he wanted then literally anything could happen.
Jmo

 

[Lucy6226]

When this news story broke it was easy to think this was pure fantasy by a stalker. However it feels far more sinister knowing the previous incidents, it's unlikely he would have been able to go through with his plan regards HW but he is clearly a danger to women and girls.

 

[Legally Bland]

I don't understand how he was working as a security guard with his previous convictions. From a quick Google it looks like you need an SIA licence and a DBS check.

 

[Lucy6226]

I don't understand how he was working as a security guard with his previous convictions. From a quick Google it looks like you need an SIA licence and a DBS check.

Good point. I'm guessing (and hoping) that he applied for his SIA before his convictions and hasn't renewed it since. If not it raises some very serious concerns.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Gavin Plumb’s online searches and messages were read to a jury on Tuesday. In them, he said he would make Willoughby give “full permission” for him and another man to “do as we please to her”.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard the 37-year-old had told another man on WhatsApp, who went by the name of Marc, that he would track the star’s movements for a “simple place to strike but a home invasion is a better idea”.

Plumb also allegedly searched online for “what does it feel like to be raped” and “where [sic] Jewish women raped in the war”.

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

Security guard accused of Holly Willoughby murder plot ‘searched how to kidnap online’

Gavin Plumb, who allegedly planned TV presenter’s abduction and rape, hoped to enact his ‘ultimate fantasy’, court told

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[callmehenry]

This whole case is terrifying. I feel so awful for holly

 

[Parker Knoll]

Yes I do. He’s a disgusting on every level.
Just hideous.

 

[Lucy6226]

You can understand why she needed a break away. It must be terrifying knowing all this

 

[Parker Knoll]

It was a ludicrous plan but how terrifying that whilst you are going about your day people are buying zip ties and chloroform for your planned abduction, rape and murder.
He was far far too stupid to ever have pulled something like that off but others can and do. Terrifying.

 

[iamshadow21]

It was a ludicrous plan but how terrifying that whilst you are going about your day people are buying zip ties and chloroform for your planned abduction, rape and murder.
He was far far too stupid to ever have pulled something like that off but others can and do. Terrifying.

Monsters walk among us wearing human faces. We pass them in the street, they serve us in the store. They are in our workplaces, or schools and our places of worship, they sit next to us on the bus or on the train. They drive our taxis and deliver our groceries.

It's the closest we come to feeling a tiger's gaze on our backs in this modern society. But at least a tiger kills to eat.

Human monsters are far worse, because they kill for their own pleasure, not necessity.

MOO

 

[Parker Knoll]

Agreed shadow.

 

[Bluebear15]

He's a scary and dangerous man imo

Voice notes of Gavin Plumb's 'plans to kidnap Holly Willoughby' played in court

The 37-year-old security guard, from Harlow in Essex, denies charges of soliciting murder, incitement to kidnap and incitement to rape between December 2021 and October last year.

news.sky.com

 

[Anxala]

It was a ludicrous plan but how terrifying that whilst you are going about your day people are buying zip ties and chloroform for your planned abduction, rape and murder.
He was far far too stupid to ever have pulled something like that off but others can and do. Terrifying.

It's bone-chilling. The trial details are a living nightmare for anyone reading them. Imagine reading them and knowing you were the subject of them?

 

[Inspector Evans]

It's bone-chilling. The trial details are a living nightmare for anyone reading them. Imagine reading them and knowing you were the subject of them?

Reminds me of Joss Stone in the early 2010s.

That was even more sinister as the two who wanted to kidnap her were actually driving down to Devon but think they broke down on the Motorway and eventually police intercepted.

 

[Legally Bland]

When questioned about his previous conviction for attempting to kidnap two women on the Stansted Express in 2006, he alleged he carried it out to get himself incarcerated.

“For me it was my only option - being in the relationship that I was in, it was toxic, I was extremely young, I needed to find a way out,” he said.

He admitted he had a “stewardess fantasy” but insisted that did not play a part in the attack. He also told the court he “was not aware” he was carrying an imitation firearm until the police arrested him.

The court previously heard Plumb was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for the 2006 attack. But he was later jailed for 32 months for another attack on two teenage girls in 2008, in which he threatened them with a “box-cutter/Stanley knife-type instrument”.

He told Ms Wass KC that he also carried out the second attack to escape his relationship.

He added: “It was exactly the same. I just needed a way out of the relationship, knowing full well that it worked the last time.”

Guard accused of Holly Willoughby kidnap plot claims he attacked women to ‘escape ex’

Gavin Plumb admitted he had a ‘stewardess fantasy’ but insisted his attacks were to escape his ex-partner, a court heard

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Lucy6226]

Trying to flip the narrative that he's the victim

 

[Parker Knoll]

Vile lump.