Courtroom heard kidnap and homicide suspect Holly Willoughby had ‘thousands and thousands’ of photographs of girls on her gadgets

Hundreds of thousands of photographs of girls have been found on the gadgets of a person accused of plotting to kidnap, rape and homicide TV presenter Holly Willoughby, a courtroom has heard.

Detective Constable William Belsham stated the quantity of fabric was so big that officers have been solely capable of look at about 10% of the photographs collected by “obsessive” safety guard Gavin Plumb.

The police carried out a filtering operation earlier than analyzing tens of hundreds of photographs on his gadgets. In all, 10,322 have been from Ms Willoughby, jurors have been informed.

The 37-year-old additionally revealed he had “needed to rape” his ex This morning A presenter for 3 years, in a whole lot of “sexual” messages have been proven to a jury at Chelmsford Crown Courtroom on Tuesday.

The trial heard how Plumb mentioned his plans to assault Ms Willoughby, 43, intimately with an internet person referred to as “Mark”.

The pair checked entry factors to her house, shared screenshots of the property and stated they might be “stealthy” for the assault, in dozens of messages shared on WhatsApp, Kik and Wickr.

“There are some blind spots that have to be crossed,” stated one in every of Plumb’s letters, which prosecutor Alison Morgan QC learn to jurors.

In a seven-day interval in January 2021, they exchanged 57 photographs, together with 9 faux pornographic photographs, two photographs of different feminine celebrities and 4 photographs of girls in handcuffs, the courtroom heard.

One of many footage confirmed the phrase, “Hurting ladies is enjoyable.”

The pair additionally bragged about their previous assaults in opposition to ladies, with Mark claiming he was jailed for stalking in Eire.

It comes after jurors have been beforehand informed how Plumb tried to kidnap ladies from a prepare on two events in 2006 – as soon as utilizing a faux gun to drive his sufferer to conform.

He later held two teenage ladies at knifepoint in a retailer warehouse in 2008.

He stated in a single message that he took his victims to the “darkest a part of the warehouse” in his 2008 assault.

He stated he was tying one in every of their fingers behind their backs and was “about to complete her off” earlier than they ran away and raised the alarm.

The pair exchanged photographs of Ms Willoughby, together with faux pornography, as they mentioned “surveilling” her house, restraining her household and transporting her elsewhere to rape her.

At varied phases, they thought-about taking the mother-of-three to a “derelict constructing” or to Plumb’s handle in Harlow, Essex, the courtroom heard.

“Positively in the midst of nowhere, so nobody might hear her scream,” Mark answered in one of many conversations with Plumb to the jury.

In messages shared across the time of Ms Willoughby’s forty first birthday in January 2022, Plumb stated: “Seems to be like class will begin early subsequent month and I will be wanting ahead to having a while off at present.”

He later added: “We’ll give her a birthday current she’ll always remember.”

Plumb additionally mentioned assaults on different high-profile ladies with Mark, together with the homicide of TV persona Jill Dando, who was shot lifeless on her doorstep in 1999.

In one other WhatsApp message learn to the courtroom by the prosecutor, Plumb stated: “Simply eager about lastly getting it [Ms Willoughby] It excites me, and I am already wanting ahead to doing it.

“I am on the level the place there is not any IDC [I don’t care] about dangers or penalties.”

The courtroom heard that Plumb carried out web searches that included “what does it really feel wish to be raped” and “the right way to meet individuals who plan to kidnap celebrities”.

On the opening of the case on Monday, jurors have been informed that focusing on Ms Willoughby, 43, was his “pure fantasy”, and that he had purchased metallic cable ties, a knife and chloroform – a liquid drug used to sedate victims – in preparation for the assault.

The purchasing middle safety guard was accused of seducing an undercover US officer he met on an internet discussion board referred to as “Abduct Lovers” to hitch a plot to commit homicide, and instigating the kidnapping and rape of the previous officer. This morning Presenter.

Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, denies all costs.

The trial, scheduled to final two weeks, remains to be ongoing.