News | Crime I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice . A plot to kidnap , rape , and murder Holly Willoughby was a “dark and twisted fantasy” of a lonely security guard but never a real plan, jurors have been told.
Gavin Plumb, 37, is accused of planning to ambush the TV star at her family home, using chloroform to overpower Ms Willoughby and her husband Dan, and take her away to a secluded location. It is said Plumb, a shopping centre security guard, wanted to repeatedly rape the former This Morning host and was plotting for her to then be murdered and dumped in a lake. Prosecutors have argued Plumb’s online chats setting out the “plan” were part of a genuine plot to kidnap and rape Ms Willoughby as well as soliciting her murder.
But Sasha Wass KC, defending, told jurors at Chelmsford crown court that Plumb was a “sad, isolated fantasist” who never intended to do anything in real life against the TV star. “He is an isolated, lonely individual who lived out his fantasy life online”, she said. “These were the ramblings of a rather sad, isolated fantasist.
”Plumb has previous convictions for trying to kidnap two air stewardesses on trains in 2006 and a failed bid to tie up 16 year old girls two years later. He told the court he committed those crimes as a “cry for help” while attempting to escape from a “toxic” relationship. But the prosecution has argued those crimes show Plumb was w.