Guard accused of kidnapping Holly Willoughby tells jury he attacked women to escape ‘toxic relationship’

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A security guard accused of plotting the kidnapping, rape and murder of TV star Holly Willoughby has told a court he attacked women to escape his “toxic relationship” before his weight rose to 500 pounds.

Giving evidence at Chelmsford Crown Court, 37-year-old Gavin Plumb admitted that he began struggling with his weight at the age of 13, which affected his self-confidence.

“Especially at 13, all sorts of things happen to you… you’re supposed to be really active and if you can’t do things like that, it really affects you,” he told the jury.

“It was something that was constantly depressing me personally. I couldn’t go out and do what my friends were doing.”

Under questioning by defence counsel Sasha Wass KC, he said he had struggled to build relationships in his teenage years, adding that he was regularly in the “friend zone” and “nothing more”.

He started his first serious relationship at the age of 18, but he claimed it soon became toxic.

“It was extremely toxic. There were constant arguments, there were constant… the things that a couple does in a normal relationship – we didn’t – we were constantly arguing, we were constantly at each other,” he told the jury.

He said the impact on him had been “enormous”, adding: “I don’t want a relationship with other people.

“I was constantly humiliated, I was constantly told that I wasn’t good enough, that she could do it much better than me.”

When questioned about his previous conviction for the attempted kidnapping of two women on the Stansted Express in 2006, he claimed that he committed the attempted kidnapping in order to get himself sent to prison.

“For me it was the only option. The relationship I was in was toxic. I was extremely young and had to find a way out,” he said.

He admitted having a “stewardess fantasy” but insisted it played no part in the attack. He also told the court he “didn’t know” he was carrying a fake firearm until police arrested him.

The court had previously heard that Plumb had been given a 12-month suspended sentence for the 2006 attack, but was later sentenced to 32 months in prison for another attack on two teenagers in 2008. He threatened them with a “box/Stanley knife-like instrument”.

He told Ms Wass KC that he also carried out the second attack to escape his relationship.

He added: “It was exactly the same. I just needed a way out of the relationship, even though I knew it worked the last time.”

Prosecutors claim Plumb’s “ultimate fantasy” was to target Ms Willoughby, who has waived her right to anonymity.

The mall security guard is accused of inciting the undercover US police officer to plot to murder and instigate the kidnapping and rape of the TV star. Plumb, from Harlow in Essex, denies all charges.

The trial, scheduled to last two weeks, will continue.

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