Voice notes ‘reveal Gavin Plumb’s plot to chloroform Holly Willoughby’
An ‘obsessed’ security guard discussed his alleged plot to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby in chilling voice notes played to a court.
Gavin Plumb allegedly planned to chloroform the former This Morning presenter and her husband Dan Baldwin before taking her to a ‘dungeon’ that he described as ‘death row’.
The 37-year-old kept hundreds of photos of Ms Willoughby on his phone, three of which were shown to the jury.
Horrifying voice notes were played to Chelmsford Crown Court where Plumb can be heard describing the alleged plot.
He tells his associate Marc that he was looking for a place to ‘hold’ Holly after ambushing her at her London home.
Gavin Plumb allegedly planned to chloroform the former This Morning presenter and her husband Dan Baldwin before taking her to a ‘dungeon’ that he described as ‘death row’
The 37-year-old kept hundreds of photos of Ms Willoughby on his phone, three of which were shown to the jury
He adds: ‘Nothing’s confirmed yet mate. Don’t celebrate too early but it looks like… [we’re] back on track for once.
‘Obviously, you’ll find out when everything is planned. Yeah we’ll go from there.’
Plumb says he is planning to break into Ms Willoughby’s family home late at night, according to the voice notes heard by jurors.
He also says how he is planning to use chloroform on Holly and her husband Dan Baldwin while striking in the dead of night.
Plumb adds: ‘Plan of action, basically, we are going to hit it at night – less traffic on the road. Chloroform both of them making them easier to restrain. Pick out outfits of hers we like, take her and the outfits with us and then we’re gone.
‘We are then going to force her to make a video saying she came with us under her own free will and she’s fully consenting to everything we do to her so that covers us.’
In another voice note sent over WhatsApp, Plumb tells Marc he is ‘more than welcome to be part of it’ as the plan was ‘going down’.
Plumb suggests he was looking for somewhere to ‘hold’ the star but ‘my place might be better cos there’s cameras everywhere’.
He adds: ‘The chloroform bit is going to be fun, picking the outfits is going to be fun. So if you can get to the UK, to England that’ll be awesome because then you can be part of it.’
Jurors heard that Plumb assembled a ‘restraint kit’, which he filmed laid out on his bed.
Hand and ankle shackles, a ball gag, cat o’nine tails, metal cable ties and rope were among the items said to have been put together by the 37-year-old.
Jurors were told Plumb communicated with a number of people online about Ms Willoughby, with one man, who turned out to be an undercover police officer, being told of his plans to ‘put her into a lake at night’ when he had finished raping her.
It is claimed the father-of-one told a man called Marc: ‘We’ve got somewhere in the country to keep her… a stud farm that’s abandoned. It’s got cells.’
Earlier in the trial the jury heard Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, discussing a ‘dungeon-style room’ big enough for a bed where the 43-year-old presenter would be held captive.
Jurors heard that Plumb assembled a ‘restraint kit’, which he filmed laid out on his bed
To another man, he allegedly said the things he planned to do to the former This Morning host would put him on ‘death row’.
On the third day of his trial yesterday, it was also claimed he sent a photo of a bottle of chloroform he bought to one of his online contacts, exclaiming: ‘Look what I came home to on my doorstep.’
Plumb, the prosecution say, was planning a ‘home invasion’ at Ms Willoughby’s London home with accomplices he met on the web.
As part of his online chats, the defendant sent a potential accomplice a video of restraint ‘kit’ items laid out on a bed, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
In a message from Plumb read to the court yesterday, he outlined the masked raid, saying: ‘We break in when they are in bed, we hold both at a weapon point, tell both to roll over on there [sic] fronts with there [sic] hands behind their backs. With Dan we use the metal cable ties, with Holly we’ll use the handcuffs etc…’
He discussed getting into close proximity with Ms Willoughby, the court heard, saying: ‘I’m calling the [ITV] studio tours tomorrow to see if they are still available and if you meet presenters.’
An artist’s drawing of Plumb at Chelmsford Crown Court at the start of his trial on Monday
He also claimed: ‘I’ve passed my SIA (Security Industry Authority) licence so might try to use it to be her security.’
Plumb – who has previous convictions for the attempted kidnap and false imprisonment of four women in three incidents – allegedly had ‘highly sexualised’ conversations with his online contacts about Ms Willoughby and other celebrities and had ‘millions’ of saved images, many deep fake porn.
In one chat about the Dancing on Ice presenter, he wrote: ‘She’s wearing things like this for a reason which is to tease us guys – she’s getting punishment for all the teasing.’
Messaging each other a few days after Ms Willougby’s co-host Phillip Schofield left This Morning in May last year in controversial circumstances, Plumb told Marc: ‘I’m so tempted to message Phil and say to him, ‘Look do you wanna get payback?’
Plumb was arrested on October 4 last year, a day after he struck up an online relationship with the man who was actually an undercover police officer based in the US.
Plumb is accused of planning to rape Ms Willoughby before murdering her and then disposing her body in a lake
Ms Willoughby was told of the alleged plot just before going on air the next day and someone stood in for her. She quit the show days later.
The court heard the officer asked Plumb why he had posted a photo of Ms Willoughby in an ‘abduct lovers’ group and was told: ‘Why do you think?’
The defendant added he was ‘definitely’ looking for help and wanted to go ahead with the plan ‘as soon as – been planning for about two and a half years’.
Plumb denies soliciting murder, incitement to kidnap and incitement to rape between December 2021 and December last year.
The trial continues.
