Horrifying new details of Holly Willoughby suspect’s previous failed kidnap plots emerge in trial-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro

A man accused of plotting to kidnap and kill Holly Willoughby is to stand trial (Picture: PA)

The man accused of plotting to kidnap and murder Holly Willoughby had made failed kidnap attempts in the past, a court has heard.

Shopping centre security officer Gavin Plumb is on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court on charges relating to the This Morning presenter, and the prosecution has revealed details of his past.

The court was told that Plumb had tied a 16-year-old girl’s hands up with rope and tape in 2008, two years after he attempted to force two different women off a train with him with the threat of a gun.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said each of the attempts was thwarted, with one woman crying in terror, adding that Plumb’s previous kidnap attempts ‘tell you that this defendant knew what it would take to terrify and overpower a woman’.

She said: ‘On August 14 2006, the defendant approached a woman on a train. ‘He sat opposite her and stared at her, before showing her a note which said:

‘”I 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.

Gavin Plumb has been accused of a plot to kidnap and kill the presenter (Picture: Rex)

Plumb appeared in court as the trial started on Monday (Picture: Julia Quenzler / SWNS)

‘”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.”‘

Two days later, he ‘was armed with an imitation firearm’ and showed a note, as Ms Morgan said: ‘This time he suggested that he was a police officer and that he needed her to get off the train so that he could speak to her.

‘She refused to get off the train with him but when she did get off the train, she reported the matter to the police.’

The prosecutor said two years later, two 16-year-olds working at a shop in Essex were also the subject of approaches by Plumb.

Ms Morgan said: ‘They were carrying out restocking on the first floor of the unit The defendant approached them and said “Get to the back of the stockroom”.

The court heard that Plumb, right, made failed kidnap attempts in the past (Picture: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)

‘He pulled out a knife and held it towards them, telling them to turn around and to put their hands behind their backs.

‘He then took some rope and tape out of his pocket and he tied the hands of one of girls. As he did so, the other girl managed to escape and she managed to raise the alarm.

‘Both of the girls were terrified. The police were called and they arrested the defendant.’

Addressing all Plumb’s previous convictions, Ms Morgan said: ‘These were real offences, committed against real women, involving this defendant threatening them and trying to control and detain them.’

Earlier, Ms Morgan said that in October of 2023, Plumb ‘engaged in an online discussion with a person he believed to be called David Nelson’.

She continued: ‘In that discussion, the defendant explained his plans to kidnap, rape and murder the celebrity Holly Willoughby. The defendant set out his plans and sought to encourage the other the other person to commit the offences with him.

‘The defendant’s plans as to what he wanted do to Holly Willoughby were graphic and were obviously sexually motivated.’

Ms Morgan added that ‘the person that he was communicating with online was an undercover police officer based in the USA and not, in fact, a like-minded abductor’.

She continued: ‘It was not just the ramblings of a fantasist. The defendant had carefully planned what he would do and how he would do it, purchasing items that would assist him in carrying out that attack.’

Morgan said Plumb shared ‘deepfake pornography images of Holly Willoughby’ online with a person called Marc ‘using her face, putting it onto the body of another female to give images of her in pornographic situations’.

She added that he bought 100 metal cable ties online in April 2022, ‘in the context of all of that chat of the need to tie up and restrain Holly Willoughby’.

Earlier, she noted that the charges ‘focus on the defendant’s attempts to solicit or encourage another person to commit the offences of murder, kidnap and rape’.

The jury has been shown photos of Plumb’s home and bedroom, while Ms Morgan said: ‘His obsessive behaviour extended to other celebrities as well and also to women who lived in his local area.

‘He commented on the appearance of women in a degrading manner, making graphic suggestions to others about what he wanted to do to those women in sexual terms.’

Willoughby stepped down from This Morning in October (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

A jury of five men and nine women have been sworn in, and they have been read the charges he is accused of, while Mr Justice Murray urged them to ignore reporting of the case.

‘The alleged victim in this case is a well known public figure in this country. No doubt all of you will know something about her and possibly this case,’ he said.

‘It is very important you put out [of your minds] anything you may know about her or the case.’

The 37-year-old man denied all charges regarding Willoughby at an earlier hearing (Picture: PA)

The 37-year-old is charged with soliciting a man – David Nelson – to commit murder, and incitement to commit kidnap by planning to assemble a ‘kidnap and restraint kit’.

He is accused of encouraging a third party to travel to the UK from the US with a ‘detailed plan’ to carry out the alleged offences.

Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, denied all charges at an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, while he is standing trial at the same court from Monday.

The 43-year-old presenter will not be attending the trial.

She appeared on the show for 14 years (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

It was reported that at the time of the alleged plot, a police guard was placed outside her London home, where she lives with her husband Dan Baldwin and their three children.

On the day Plumb was charged, This Morning host Alison Hammond said on the show: ‘We are obviously all shocked to hear the news and we want to send our love and biggest hugs to Holly and her family.’

Willoughby announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show.

In a social media statement at the time, she said: ‘I have let ITV know today that after 14 years, I will not be returning to This Morning.

‘To everyone who has ever worked on the show over the years, thank you so much. This is such a difficult goodbye, you are incredible and I forever will be proud of what we’ve done together.

She returned to Dancing On Ice with new co-host Stephen Mulhern earlier this year (Picture: Kieron McCarron/ITV/Shutterstock)

‘Thank you to everyone at ITV for being supportive. To every guest who has sat on our sofa, thank you.

‘Most of all, thank you to the wonderful viewers. You’ve been so loyal, so supportive and the best company every day.’

The presenter has since hosted Dancing On Ice with Stephen Mulhern, and she is set to front a Netflix show – to be released next year – in which adventurer Bear Grylls hunts down celebrities in the jungle.

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