Man accused of ‘Holly Willoughby kidnap plot’ only ever ‘friends’ with girls

A man accused of plotting to kidnap and rape TV presenter Holly Willoughby said he was “regularly in the friend zone”, a court heard.

Asked by his barrister Sasha Wass KC, about relationships with girls, Gavin Plumb, 37, said he was “regularly in the friend zone”, adding: “I was regularly their friends, nothing more.”

The security guard claimed his previous convictions, which included attempting to kidnap two women from separate trains and falsely imprisoning two 16-year-old girls in a Woolworths store, were a “cry for help”

Describing his first girlfriend at 18, which lasted about “four-and-a-half years”, Plumb said it was “extremely toxic”, adding: “There was (sic) constant arguments.”

Questioned on why he had attempted to kidnap an air hostess on a train in 2006 with the threat of a note that said he would shoot her, he said: “For me, it was my only option – being in the relationship I was in, it was toxic – I was extremely young and I needed to get out.”

Cross-examining, Alison Morgan KC, prosecuting, challenged Plumb as to why he told police that the kidnap attempt was a prank.

He said: “It was a cry for help. I didn’t understand the full gravity of it at the time.”

The court also heard that Plumb would sometimes think about his “celebrity crush” Holly Willoughby “four, five, six times” a day and that he became interested in BDSM [bondage and discipline, domination and submission, sadism and masochism] around 2014.

He told jurors he bought a “kit” from Amazon that included a whip, lead, shackles, blindfold and clamps with black rope and when he was released from prison in 2010, he spent “99.9 per cent” of his time online.

He told Chelmsford Crown Court: “If I wasn’t on the (game) console, I would be on the phone, and if I wasn’t on the phone, I would be on the console.”

The defendant also said he would communicate with others in “fantasy” chat rooms between 2010 and 2013.

He told the jury that he had “more chance of tripping over the step walking down” than jumping over a wall outside Willoughby’s home after any attempted kidnap.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard that at the time he was arrested, he was somewhere “between 25 and 30 stone”.

Plumb said in court he was “absolutely heartbroken, disgusted and shocked” that his online chats about kidnapping, raping and murdering Holly Willoughby had “come out”.

He told jurors he was “sorry for the contents of the chat, absolutely” as he was asked by Ms Morgan if he would make an apology for his words.

He went on to tell the court that the bottles of chloroform found at his address by police were to be used as a cleaning agent to remove a stain beside his fridge and were not part of his alleged plot to kidnap, rape ad murder the presenter.

The defendant told jurors: “I got a large stain next to my fridge.

“We’ve tried pretty much everything on the market, nothing worked.”

Ms Morgan said: “So the purchase of bottles of chloroform was for the purpose of getting rid of a stain in your kitchen?”

The defendant replied: “In my living room, which was what it was actually used for.”

Asked why he researched the effects of it, Plumb said he “didn’t want… to be affected by it”.

When Ms Morgan told him chloroform could “seriously incapacitate someone”, he replied: “That wasn’t what I was planning on using it for.”

Plumb is accused of attempting to live his “ultimate fantasy” and has been described by the prosecution as someone who had an “obsession” with Ms Willoughby.

The defendant, from Harlow, Essex, denies soliciting murder, incitement to rape and incitement to kidnap.

The trial continues.