Man in Holly Willoughby trial ‘would have struggled to hold out plan’
Questions were raised about Gavin Plumb’s ability to carry out the alleged plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby by his barrister today.
Sarah Wass KC suggested elements of the plan would have been difficult to carry out as he weighed 30 stone and ‘his size and girth would have made it difficult’.
In an exchange with undercover police officer who was given the pseudonym ‘David Nelson’, she had him confirm that most contributors to the Abduct Lovers chat group were engaged in pure ‘fantasy’.
She then questioned how Plumb, 37, could have ‘jumped the outer wall’ of Miss Willoughby’s home, which had been discussed with his alleged co-conspirators.
‘Knowing what he looked like and the state of his dimensions, did that plan – or what was said about that plan, jumping the outer wall – cause you to re-evaluate the credibility of this plan?’ she asked the US-based officer.
He insisted: ‘No, it did not.’
Gavin Plumb, 37, (pictured in a selfie) allegedly planned to kidnap, rape and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby
Plumb (pictured) is accused of planning to rape Ms Willoughby before murdering her and then disposing her body in a lake
The 37-year-old kept hundreds of photos of Ms Willoughby on his phone, three of which were shown to the jury
Another important part of the ‘plot’ – how to spirit Holly Willoughby away from her London home – verged on the bizarre at times as neither Plumb nor his chief contact, a man called Marc, could drive.
In early exchanges, they appeared to rely on others being able to take the wheel of a vehicle. But as those people got ‘cold feet’, Plumb indicated he was learning to drive to solve the problem.
On December 4, 2022, he told Marc: ‘Hopefully I’ll be able to drive myself by then.’
Later the same day, he suggested an alternative, saying: ‘We need to find an abandoned building even if we force her [Miss Willoughby] to drive.’
Two days later, the defendant said: ‘I’m looking at learning to drive in the new year so we’ll have someone that can drive for our special guest.’
Marc replied: ‘Yeah, I kinda would like to learn to drive myself but erm something I haven’t revealed I’m partially deaf… the problem is my driving – my balance is never good.’
Jurors heard that Plumb assembled a ‘restraint kit’, which he filmed laid out on his bed
An artist’s drawing of Plumb at Chelmsford Crown Court at the start of his trial on Monday
On March 12, 2023, Plumb told his friend he had ‘started to learn driving’
A fortnight on, he added: ‘The others have gone quiet so I’ll get my driving sorted.’
On May 14, he told Marc: ‘Once I pass me test then I’m going down there [Miss Willoughby’s house] to er basically scope it out for a, a few days.’
In her opening speech, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the jury: ‘The fact that the plan may have been likely to fail at some point does not mean that the defendant was not sincere in his desire and intention to carry out such an attack.’
