A former security guard Gavin Plumb has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 16 years at Chelmsford Crown Court for plotting to kidnap, rape, and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby, reported Mirror.
He was heard muttering "15 years to kill myself" as he was led to the cells. Wearing a grey sweatshirt, he had remained impassive as the sentence was handed down.
Gavin Plumb, 37, carefully planned a “home invasion” at Willoughby’s property where he planned to tie her up and rape her in front of her family before murdering her and disposing of her body in an abandoned building on the outskirts of London.
The court heard the sinister plot has had a “life-changing” impact on TV presenter Willoughby.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Ms Willoughby asked for her victim personal statement to be private. She continued: “What I can say… it is abundantly clear that in making that statement the prosecution submits the impact of this offending has been life-changing for the victim of these offences – both in private and personal terms – private, personal and indeed professional. It is clear, the prosecution submit… that the extent of the shock and fear caused by this offending has been impossible to convey.”
Former This Morning presenter Willoughby said after Plumb's conviction last week that women "should not be made to feel unsafe ... in our own homes".
Plumb, 37, was snared after a US undercover police officer infiltrated an online group called Abduct Lovers and became so concerned about Plumb's posts that evidence was passed to the FBI.
Plumb wept after jurors unanimously convicted him of soliciting murder and inciting rape and kidnap following an earlier trial at Chelmsford Crown Court. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on today.
Plumb told the officer, who was using 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.
When Plumb was arrested on October 4 last year and officers told him that the allegations concerned Ms Willoughby, the defendant told them: "I'm not gonna lie, she is a fantasy of mine."
She stepped down from her role as presenter of ITV’s This Morning six days after Plumb was arrested on 4 October 2023 after 14 years on the show. She returned to screens as co-host of Dancing on Ice the following year.
