Security guard who plotted to kill Holly Willoughby loses sentence appeal

By Danny Halpin and Callum Parke, PA

A security guard who plotted to kidnap, rape and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby has lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his sentence.

Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years in July last year after being unanimously convicted of soliciting murder and encouraging or assisting others to rape and kidnap the former This Morning presenter.

The 38-year-old’s kidnap plans involved attempting to “ambush” Ms Willoughby at her family home, with Plumb telling others he would then take the presenter to another location, which he suggested would be a “dungeon”-type room.

This is a case where the offender clearly is dangerous and where there is no way of knowing when or if ever that will cease to be the caseLord Justice Edis

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Murray said that Plumb had an “unhealthy sexual obsession” with Ms Willoughby, who has waived her right to anonymity in the case, and said that some of Plumb’s plans were “particularly sadistic, brutal and degrading”.

At a hearing on Tuesday, barristers for Plumb said his sentence was “manifestly excessive” and should be reduced.

The Crown Prosecution Service opposed the appeal bid, with its barristers telling the court in London that the offending had “life-changing consequences” for Ms Willoughby.

Dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Martin Spencer and Ms Justice Norton, said they had concluded that it was “ultimately unpersuasive”.

The judge said that messages containing Plumb’s plans were “distressing, even for seasoned professionals, to read”, and that Mr Justice Murray’s decision to pass a life sentence was “unimpeachable”.

He said: “This is a case where the offender clearly is dangerous and where there is no way of knowing when or if ever that will cease to be the case.”

Plumb, who adopted the user name Big Bear to chat to others about his plot online, appeared to formulate his fantasy as early as 2011, googling the phrase “how to meet people who plan to kidnap celebs”.

He told others he would then take the presenter to another location, which he suggested would be a “dungeon” type room, with the jury told that he checked out an abandoned stud farm with cells to “keep” Ms Willoughby.

His messages also showed how he planned to rape her at the location before killing her and then putting her “into a lake at night”.

Plumb was caught after a US undercover police officer from the Owatonna Police Department in the US state of Minnesota infiltrated an online group called Abduct Lovers.

He told the officer, who used the pseudonym David Nelson, that he was “definitely serious” about his plot to kidnap Ms Willoughby, leaving the officer with the impression that there was an “imminent threat” to her.

The officer became so concerned about Plumb’s posts that evidence was passed to the FBI, with US law enforcement then contacting police in the UK.

Essex Police then raided his flat in Harlow and found bottles of chloroform and an “abduction kit” complete with cable ties.

When he was arrested on October 4 2023, and officers told him that the allegations concerned Ms Willoughby, Plumb told them: “I’m not gonna lie, she is a fantasy of mine.”

Plumb had argued in his defence at trial at Chelmsford Crown Court that his plans were just online chat and fantasy, but Mr Justice Murray said that he had “no doubt that this was all considerably more than a fantasy to you”.

Following the jury returning its verdicts, Ms Willoughby said in a statement: “As women we should not be made to feel unsafe going about our daily lives and in our own homes.”

At the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said that the offences had had a “catastrophic impact” on Ms Willoughby, stating: “The extent of the shock and fear caused by this offending has been impossible to convey.”

On Tuesday, Sasha Wass KC, for Plumb, said the sentence was “far too long and it properly could have been reduced considerably”, and “cannot have reflected the mitigation that was present”.

She continued that there was “no suggestion of lasting psychological harm” to Ms Willoughby.

Neither Plumb nor Ms Willoughby attended the hearing, either in person or remotely.

Ms Morgan, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the harm intended by Plumb was “of the very highest level”.

She said: “What else was the judge to do but conclude that the risk posed by this applicant from the facts of the offending and previous convictions could not be met with anything other than a life sentence?”