How Gavin Plumb plotted to kidnap and kill Holly Willoughby

By his own admission, Plumb was a loner who rarely left his house and had developed an “obsession” with the presenter, best known for co-hosting ITV’s This Morning alongside Philip Schofield.

Plumb searched online for other people who found Ms Willoughby attractive and his desires started to spiral.

Speaking online to a man only known as Marc, the pair began to devise a plot that would see her abducted from her home by force and taken to a “dungeon”.

“I’m going to be living out my ultimate fantasy,” Plumb wrote. “I’m now at the point that fantasy isn’t enough anymore. I want the real thing.”

The message comes during an exchange of hundreds of messages between Plumb and Marc, most of which included graphic sexual detail.

Asked in March 2023 what the final plan was, Plumb, a security guard, said they would “hit it” at night so there was less traffic.

“Chloroform both of them [Ms Willoughby and her husband] that way then they can both be easily restrained,” he explained.

“We’re then gonna force her to make a video saying she come with us under her own free will… and she’s fully consenting to everything we do to her – so that covers us.”