‘HEARTBROKEN AND DISGUSTED’
Holly plot accused claims he regrets his ‘dark’ chats but it was just ‘fantasy’
THE security guard accused of plotting to kidnap, rape and kill Holly Willoughby told a jury he was “heartbroken, disgusted and shocked” that online chats about his plans were exposed.
Giving evidence for the first time, Gavin Plumb, 37, said his discussions were “massively regrettable”, but insisted it was all just a fantasy.
He apologised for the “graphic and violent” contents of some of the chats, and claimed: “It was a rush of excitement as I knew it was online to get my gratification and move on”.
At Chelmsford crown court, he admitted his thoughts about the TV star in online chats were “dark”.
But he insisted the messages about what he had planned for Ms Willoughby, who he called his “celebrity crush”, were fantasy and it was “never going to happen”.
He is accused of hatching a plot to abduct Ms Willoughby, best known for presenting ITV’s This Morning and Dancing on Ice, by force from her
I thought I’d try something really big again to get away from the relationship
GAVIN PLUMB JUSTIFYING TRYING TO FALSELY IMPRISON TWO TEENAGE GIRLS
home and then keep her imprisoned in a “dungeon”.
The jury was told of Plumb’s conviction for attempted kidnap in 2006, and two other offences of false imprisonment committed in 2008.
In 2006, in two separate incidents within three days, he tried to force two female air stewards off trains.
In 2008, he tied up two 16-year-old girls in a Woolworths stockroom.
He said he had a “stewardess fantasy” at the time of the 2006 offences, for which he got 12 months’ jail, suspended for two years. He was jailed for 32 months for the false imprisonment offences in 2008.
Plumb claimed his crimes were a “cry for help” and a way to escape from a toxic relationship.
Questioned about what had been going through his mind when he tried to lock up the two teenagers, Plumb said: “I just needed a way out of the relationship, knowing it worked the first time.
“I thought I’d try something really big again to get away from the relationship.”
Asked by prosecutor Alison Morgan KC what it felt like “when you put that tape around the wrists of that girl” in Woolworths in 2008, Plumb replied: “I was scared.” Asked, “Did you stop when you saw she was terrified?”, Plumb said, “No”.
When Ms Morgan suggested his “target” was to sexually assault the girl, the defendant said: “My target was to get caught and get out of the toxic relationship.” Plumb said: “I’m disgusted by my previous behaviour.”
The jury was shown police body camera footage of Plumb’s arrest at 9.45pm on October 4 last year. He was in bed when police burst in, and repeatedly asks “please explain to me what the hell is going on”. Told he is under suspicion of plotting to kidnap Ms Willoughby, he says: “I’m not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine.”
Plumb told the court he bought two bottles of chloroform, which officers found in his flat, as a “cleaning product”. He said: “I got a large stain next to my fridge.
“We’ve tried pretty much everything on the market, nothing worked.”
Ms Morgan KC said: “So the purchase of bottles of chloroform was for the purpose of getting rid of a stain in your kitchen?” He replied: “In my living room, which was what it was actually used for.”
Asked why he had researched the effects of chloroform, Plumb said he “didn’t want... to be affected by it”.
When Ms Morgan said chloroform could “seriously incapacitate someone”, he said: “That wasn’t what I was planning on using it for.”
Plumb, from Harlow, Essex, denies soliciting murder, incitement to rape and incitement to kidnap.
Ms Willoughby has waived her right to anonymity in relation to the incitement to rape charge.
The trial continues.