Gavin Plumb lost 10 stone in desperate bid to get fit enough to kidnap Holly Willoughby

Giant-sized Gavin Plumb had embarked on a secret fitness routine in a bid to get in shape to carry out his plot to kidnap, rape and murder TV star Holly Willoughby.

On Thursday, security guard Gavin Plumb, 37, has been found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court of masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder TV presenter Holly Willoughby.

Plumb had gorged on crisps and guzzled gallons of coke as his mammoth weight ballooned to over 35 stone.

But inspired by online plotters ready to help him carry out the wicked abduction plan, he had dramatically shed over 10 stone in a desperate bid to get fit.

The twisted sexual deviant had embarked on a liquid diet to shed the pounds and he was also attempting to clamber from his sofa and do workouts – taking inspiration from a low-impact fitness workout Ms Willoughby, 43, performed on her ITV This Morning show about the 3-2-8 Fitness Trend.

The weight loss enabled the depraved loner to begin taking driving lessons so he would be able to drive the drugged presenter to a rural dungeon where she would be repeatedly abused before having her throat slit and her body thrown in a lake.

He also thought that if he could get below 20 stone then he might be able to take part in the break-in at Miss Willoughby’s London family home, where he would be required to clamber up a ladder to breach a wall surrounding the luxury property

Plumb, who prior to hatching the plot had not left his home in months, was also planning to visit the ITV studios where Ms Willoughby filmed This Morning to take a tour and had researched online about getting a job as a security guard at the Television Centre in London’s White City – in a bid to get closer to the star. 

Discussing getting into close proximity with Ms Willoughby a recording of Plumb heard him telling a potential accomplice: “I'm calling the ITV studio tours tomorrow to see if they are still available and if you meet presenters.”

He also claimed: “I've passed my SIA (Security Industry Authority) licence so might try to use it to be her security.”

Plumb - who has previous convictions for the attempted kidnap and false imprisonment of four women in three incidents – masterminded the twisted plot to break into Ms Willoughby’s home and drug her and her husband before taking her to a remote dungeon to be abused. 

He was attempting to recruit an Irish-speaking accomplice named Marc, who he struck up a friendship as they stalked sordid dark web chat rooms eagerly discussing the vile things they would like to do to women before their focus turned to This Morning presenter Ms Willoughby.

Plumb’s plan was brought to an abrupt halt when he began chatting to an undercover US detective in a fantasy chatroom.

The detective had to Google search who Ms Willoughby was before concluding the ITV star was at “imminent threat” of being kidnapped, raped and murdered.

He told the court he believed Plumb’s plan to abduct the star would have been “carried out with or without my services” after engaging in a chat on a platform called “Abduct Lovers”.

The officer, who has been granted anonymity to protect his and his family’s safety and “his effectiveness as an undercover officer”, told how his role involves looking for instances of human trafficking and kidnapping.

He said his concerns escalated after he was sent a photograph by Plumb of an “abduction kit”, telling Chelmsford Crown Court: “At that point in the conversation it was quite alarming.”

Plumb had bought items including hand and ankle shackles, a ball gag, rope, metal cable ties, handcuffs and chloroform to use to break into Ms Willoughby’s home and drug the mother-of-three and her TV producer husband Dan Baldwin, 49.

The officer, based with the Owatonna Police Department in the US state of Minnesota, said he showed Plumb a flight confirmation in their online conversations in order “to show him that I was willing to accomplice him in this act”.

The officer said after gleaning the information he passed his concerns about Plumb to the FBI and a meeting was set-up in the early hours of October 4 last year to include UK officers from the Met.

Plumb was arrested later that day at his home in Harlow, Essex.

Dramatic body-worn video shows officers from Essex Police pounding down the front door of Plumb's flat in Harlow before finding him inside topless watching TV.

The 37-year-old exclaims “what are you talking about” and “please explain to me what the hell is going on”.

Told he was under arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to kidnap, Plumb said “who?” and was told it was Holly Willoughby.

He replied: “I'm not gonna lie, she is a fantasy of mine.”