Security guard sentenced to life over ‘sadistic, brutal and degrading’ plot to kidnap British TV personality

A man has been sentenced to life in prison for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby, one of Britain’s most high-profile television personalities.

At the sentencing hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, around 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of London, Judge Edward Murray told Gavin Plumb, 37, that he would have to serve a minimum term of 16 years before he can be eligible for parole.

Plumb was found guilty by a jury last week following an eight-day trial.

“Over a number of years, you pursued an unhealthy sexual obsession with Holly Willoughby that led you ultimately to plan over that period to kidnap, to rape and to murder her,” the judge said. “You intended to harm her husband and her children as part of your plan.”

He added that Plumb’s plans were so “horrifying, shocking and graphic in detail” that they were not shared in open court, though the jury did hear them.

They were, he added, “particularly sadistic, brutal and degrading” and that he had “no doubt” the plans were “considerably more than a fantasy.”