Moment topless guard says Holly Willoughby is ‘a fantasy of mine’ during arrest over alleged kidnap plot
A security guard accused of a plot to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby said the star was “a fantasy of mine” as police raided his flat, according to body-worn video footage played in court.
Gavin Plumb, 37, was shirtless when officers forced open his front door and burst into his home in Harlow, Essex, on October 4 last year.
A police officer handcuffed Plumb, who was in a bedroom in the property, within moments of them entering.
Plumb exclaimed “what are you talking about”, in the footage played to Chelmsford Crown Court, later adding: “Please explain to me what the hell is going on.”
When told he was under arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to kidnap, Plumb said “who?” and was told it was Ms Willoughby.
The defendant asked “OK, where’s that from?” and was told by an officer “that will be explained to you in custody”.
He later stated to officers, in the footage from October 4 last year: “I’m not gonna lie, she is a fantasy of mine.”
The trial was earlier told that Plumb had unwittingly engaged in an online chat with a US undercover police officer, who he thought was a man called David Nelson.
In the conversation with the undercover officer, Plumb told of his plans to “put her (Ms Willoughby) into a lake at night” when he had finished raping her.
The defendant denies soliciting murder, incitement to rape and incitement to kidnap.
A video of Plumb in police custody was also played to jurors, in which the defendant was speaking but the words were inaudible.
Defence barrister Sasha Wass KC said in court: “I wanted the jury to see Mr Plumb was talking freely and to see the size he was then as opposed to now.”
The defendant earlier told jurors that his current weight was around 24-and-a-half stone, but he weighed around 30 stone at the time he was taken into custody.
The footage comes as Plumb, a father of two, gave evidence in his own defence on Friday. He told the jury he had purchased two bottles of chloroform to clean a stain on his carpet and insisted his online discussions about kidnapping, raping and murdering the star were a “fantasy”.
He told the jury he had “more chance of tripping over the step walking down” than jumping over a wall outside the former This Morning presenter’s home in an attempted kidnap.
Plumb admitted his online chats were “coming across” like a genuine plot to kidnap, rape and murder Ms Willoughby, but insisted “there’s no plan”.
He told jurors: “We are discussing a fantasy.”
He also claimed he had attacked other women to escape his “toxic relationship” with an ex-partner in a “cry for help” as he was challenged over his previous convictions for attacking women.
The court previously heard Plumb was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for attempting to kidnap two women from a train in 2006. He was later jailed for 32 months for false imprisonment for another attack on two teenage girls in 2008, in which he threatened them with a Stanley knife.
He told his defence barrister Ms Wass he carried out the crimes to get himself incarcerated.
“For me it was my only option - being in the relationship that I was in, it was toxic, I was extremely young, I needed to find a way out,” he said.
Plumb said that he was following legal advice when he later gave no comment in police interview.
The trial continues.
