A man accused of plotting to kidnap and murder Holly Willoughby has a history of failed abduction attempts, a court heard.
Mall security guard Gavin Plumb is on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court on charges related to the This Morning presenter.
Details of his alleged kidnapping plan have been revealed, including voice notes in which the 37-year-old talked about using chloroform so the pair could be “easily restrained”.
The jury heard he assumed Willoughby would be “docile” when it came to stopping him from getting close to her children.
The voice note details how he planned to “make a video saying that she came with us of her own free will” and that she “fully agreed.”
Two bottles of chloroform were found in his home, the court heard.
It is also reported that an undercover US police officer found the suspect on the online group Kidnappers, where he boasted about his plans for Willoughby.
Using the name BigBear, Plumb said he had “a lot of information” on the star, including her security times and “what time she gets up in the morning”, the court was told.
The court heard he knew the layout of Willoughby’s home and suggested hiding a ladder nearby and using “metal ties” to restrain her husband.
Husband and television producer Dan Baldwin was silenced by having socks put in his mouth and handcuffed.
Prosecutors revealed details of his past, including how Plumb bound the hands of a 16-year-old girl with rope and duct tape in 2008, two years after he tried to force two different women accompanying him off a train, threatening to use a weapon.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan K.S. said each attempt was thwarted, with one woman weeping in horror, adding that Plumb’s previous kidnapping attempts “demonstrate that this defendant knew what it took to intimidate and subdue a woman.”
She said: “On August 14, 2006, the defendant approached a woman on the train. “He sat down across from her and stared at her before showing her a piece of paper that said:
‘I have a gun.’ All you have to do is keep quiet. Do what I say. So just get up and get off with me at the next stop. Don’t cry and don’t make a noise.
‘Don’t stop me from touching you because I’m not going to hurt you.’ If you do all this no one will get hurt but if you don’t I’ll shoot you, myself and everyone else.’
Two days later, “he was armed with an imitation firearm” and showed the note, Ms Morgan said: “This time he said he was a police officer and he needed her to get off the train so he could talk to her.”
‘She refused to get off the train with him but when she got off she reported it to the police.’
The prosecutor said that two years later two 16-year-olds who worked in the Essex store were also the subject of Plumb’s harassments.
Ms Morgan said: ‘They were restocking the ground floor of the building. The defendant approached them and said, “Go to the back of the warehouse.”
He pulled out a knife, held it out to them and ordered them to turn around and put their hands behind their backs.
‘He then took rope and tape from his bag and tied the hands of one of the girls.’ At the same time the other girl managed to escape and managed to raise the alarm.
“Both girls were terrified. The police were called and the defendant was arrested.”
Referring to Plumb’s previous convictions, Ms Morgan said: “These were real crimes against real women where the defendants threatened them, attempted to control them and detain them.”
Ms Morgan previously reported that in October 2023, Plumb “engaged in an online discussion with an individual he believed to be called David Nelson.”
She continued: “During this discussion, the defendant outlined his plans to kidnap, rape and murder celebrity Holly Willoughby. The defendant set out his plans and attempted to induce another individual to commit criminal offences with him.
“The defendant’s plans for what he wanted to do with Holly Willoughby were graphic and clearly sexually motivated.”
Ms Morgan added that “the person he was communicating with online was an undercover agent based in the United States,” and not essentially a like-minded kidnapper.
She continued: “This was not just the delirium of a dreamer. “The defendant carefully planned what he was going to do and how he was going to do it, and procured items that would assist him in carrying out this attack.”
Morgan said Plumb shared “fake pornographic images of Holly Willoughby” online with a man named Mark; used her face by superimposing it on another woman’s body to create images of her in pornographic situations.
She added that in April 2022 he purchased 100 metal cable ties online “in the context of all this talk about the need to tie up and restrain Holly Willoughby.”
She said Plumb told Mark: “Holding her and getting her has been my ultimate fantasy for too long. I’ve reached the point now where fantasy is no longer enough. I want the real thing.`
Online chats reportedly recorded him talking about ‘stalking’ the presenter and taking her ‘to my house’ while Willoughby was blindfolded.
Pictures were released of empty rooms described as his ‘dungeon’ which was ‘big enough for a bed’ as Mark said ‘her screams couldn’t be heard for miles’.
The jury heard how he also tried to get a tour of the ITV studios or a job as a security guard.
Morgan previously pointed out that the charges ‘focus on the defendant’s attempts to instigate or incite another person to commit crimes including murder, kidnapping and rape’.
The jury was shown photographs of Plumb’s house and bedroom, with Ms Morgan saying: “His obsessive behaviour extended to other celebrities as well as women who lived in his area.”
“He made derogatory comments about the way women looked and made strong suggestions to others about what he wanted to do to those women sexually.”
The jury of five men and nine women was sworn in and the charges against him were read to them and Judge Murray asked them to ignore the case report.
“The alleged victim in this case is a well-known public figure in this country. “No doubt you all know something about her and perhaps about this case,” he said.
“It is very important that you put anything you know about her or this case out of your mind.”
A 37-year-old man is accused of inciting a man – David Nelson – to murder, inciting him to commit a kidnapping, and planning to assemble a “kidnap and containment kit.”
He is accused of inciting a third party to come to the UK from the US with a ‘detailed plan’ to commit the alleged crimes.
Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, denied all charges at an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, although he has been on trial at the same court since Monday.
The presenter, 43, will not attend the hearing.
Police officers were reportedly outside her London home, where she lives with her husband Dan Baldwin and their three children, during the alleged plot.
On the day Plumb was charged, This Morning presenter Alison Hammond told the programme: ‘Of course we are all shocked by the news and would like to send our warmest regards to Holly and her family,’
Willoughby announced. She left This Morning last October after 14 years on the ITV show.
In a statement on social media at the time, she said: “I have told ITV today that after 14 years I will not be returning to This Morning.”
“Thank you to everyone who has worked on the show over the years.” It’s so hard to say goodbye, you are incredible and I will always be proud of what we accomplished together.
“Thank you to everyone at ITV for your support. Thank you to every guest who has sat on our sofa.
“Most of all thanks to the wonderful viewers.” You have been so loyal, so supportive and the best company every day.”
The presenter has since hosted Dancing On Ice with Stephen Mulhern and is set to host the Netflix show next year, which follows adventurer Bear Grylls in the jungle hunting down celebrities.