A security guard has been found guilty of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder British television presenter Holly Willoughby.
Prosecutors said Gavin Plumb (37) was obsessed with then This Morning host Willoughby (43) who left the ITV show after 14 years last October following his arrest.
A jury unanimously convicted him of soliciting murder and inciting rape and kidnap.
Plumb slowly shook his head and looked down at the floor as the verdicts were read out.
He then began to weep as he was sent down to the cells, sniffling as he tried to hold back tears.
The court heard the father-of-two has two previous convictions for attempted kidnap, for trying to abduct two women off a train, and two for false imprisonment, after holding two 16-year-old girls at knifepoint.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard Plumb had been having graphic and highly sexualised conversations with others online about attacking Holly Willoughby and other celebrities since December 2021.
In hundreds of messages shown to the jury, he shared deepfake porn images, pictures of her home and talked about booking time off work to carry out his plan.
An undercover US police officer told jurors last week he believed Plumb posed an "imminent threat" to the presenter after meeting him on a Kik messenger group called "Abduct Lovers".
'Kidnap kit'
Plumb said in messages he planned to target her in a "home invasion", using chloroform to subdue Holly Willoughby and her husband, the TV producer Dan Baldwin, before tying them up, kidnapping her and repeatedly raping her.
He shared a video of his "kidnap kit" with the officer, who gained his trust by sharing flight details and a fake ID, and said he would kill Willoughby before disposing of her body in a lake.
The officer, who told Plumb he would travel from New York to help him carry out the plan, alerted the FBI and British police, who raided his flat in Essex.
Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Gavin Plumb (left) appearing at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court, 26-10-23. Image PA Images AlamyIn footage of the arrest, filmed on an officer's body-worn camera, a topless Plumb, when told he is being held over a plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby, says: "I'm not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine."
Police seized items including handcuffs, rope, shackles, a ball gag and cable ties, as well as two bottles labelled as chloroform, which were later found not to contain any of the liquid.
Plumb told jurors the bottles of chloroform he had purchased were to clean a carpet stain and said he had bought a BDSM kit in 2014 "to rekindle my relationship with my ex-partner".
'Disgusted and shocked'
Holly Willoughby did not give evidence or attend the trial but waived her right to automatic anonymity as an alleged victim of a planned sexual offence.
The court heard Plumb had more than one million pictures of her and other stars on his mobile phone and other devices, as well as a handwritten list of celebrities in his bedside drawer.
He told jurors he lived "99.9%" of his life online and weighed up to 30 stone at the time of his arrest, having struggled with his weight since he was a teenager, and couldn't drive.
In court, he said he was "sorry" for the contents of his messages, adding: "I'm absolutely heartbroken, disgusted and shocked that it has come out."
He claimed it was nothing more than online chat that "was never going to be anything more than a fantasy".
Plumb will be sentenced on Friday July 12th.
Reporting by: IRN
