Holly Willoughby: Jury considers verdict in kidnap plot trial

Summing up the defence’s case earlier, Sasha Wass KC said Mr Plumb’s online discussions were a “dark, twisted fantasy but a fantasy nonetheles”.

“The fun – if that is the right word – was fantasising, pretending that the plan would be put into effect,” she told the jury.

“There is no doubt that Gavin Plumb sent the messages and there is no doubt that the content of the messages are vile and misogynistic – and Mr Plumb himself accepted they were dark.”

Ms Wass said the messages were “the ramblings of a rather sad” individual.

“The plan was riddled with flaws – it was wholly unachievable,” she added.

The barrister added Mr Plumb had fallen down a “rabbit hole” of fantastical online chat rooms where “similar lonely, disaffected people were feeding off their fantasies”.

She continued: “It was the fantasy of rape and abduction that gave him the gratification.”