The man serving a life sentence for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder television presenter Holly Willoughby has reportedly been found with a concealed collection of her photographs inside his prison cell.
Gavin Plumb, 39, was said to have gathered images cut from television magazines before hiding them beneath his mattress at the high-security HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.
According to a report citing an unnamed prison source, officers searched the former security guard’s cell after receiving information about his behaviour.
The pictures were reportedly confiscated and destroyed, while Plumb is understood to have lost privileges, potentially including access to television.
The Prison Service has not publicly confirmed the full circumstances surrounding the alleged discovery, meaning the claims about the collection and any disciplinary punishment should be treated as reported rather than independently established.
However, the allegation has prompted renewed concern because of the obsessive conduct described during Plumb’s 2024 criminal trial.
He was convicted of soliciting murder and inciting the kidnap and rape of Holly following a plot that prosecutors said had advanced far beyond an online fantasy.
The court heard that Plumb had assembled items including handcuffs, heavy-duty cable ties and other equipment, while thousands of photographs of the presenter were discovered at his home.
He discussed plans to enter Holly’s family home, restrain her and carry out appalling violence against her.
The scheme was prevented after Plumb communicated online with a man he believed shared his intentions.
That individual was in fact an undercover police officer based in Minnesota, who gathered information before alerting authorities in the United States and Britain.
Essex Police arrested Plumb at his home in Harlow in October 2023 after officers concluded there could be an immediate risk.
At Chelmsford Crown Court the following year, a jury rejected his claim that the conversations were merely fantasy.
The judge said Plumb had pursued an unhealthy sexual obsession over several years and had developed detailed plans to kidnap, rape and murder the television star.
He was handed three concurrent life sentences with a minimum term of 16 years.
After accounting for the time he had already spent on remand, he was ordered to serve at least 15 years and 85 days before becoming eligible to apply for parole.
Eligibility does not guarantee release.
A parole board would first have to determine that he no longer posed an unacceptable danger to the public.
Plumb later attempted to have his sentence reduced, but the Court of Appeal rejected that bid in October 2025.
The latest prison report will therefore raise questions about whether the fixation identified at trial has continued behind bars.
An unnamed source claimed Plumb had collected magazines from other prisoners and searched through them for pictures of Holly.
The same source alleged that he remained remorseless and made deeply disturbing remarks about his crimes.
Those statements have not been independently verified, and no official disciplinary record has been released publicly.
Reports also claimed Plumb had formed a friendship with convicted murderer Steve Wright at Long Lartin.
Wright is serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of six women.
Claims about the men spending time together, cooking meals or discussing their crimes again rely on anonymous prison sources and have not been publicly substantiated by the authorities.
The most serious established facts remain those proven in court: Plumb had a history of offences involving attempts to restrain or abduct women before he targeted Holly.
In 2006, he attempted to force two women from trains in separate incidents.
Two years later, he imprisoned two 16-year-old girls in a storeroom while armed with a box cutter, leading to a custodial sentence.
The judge who sentenced him over the Holly plot concluded that the danger he presented could continue for an uncertain period.
For Holly, the criminal case had a profound impact on both her private and professional life.
Six days after Plumb’s arrest, she announced that she was leaving ITV’s This Morning after 14 years, saying she had made the decision for herself and her family.
She did not attend the trial but provided an impact statement, parts of which were referred to during the court proceedings.
Her decision to protect her privacy has largely continued since the conviction.
The alleged discovery of new photographs will be particularly troubling because victims should not be forced to relive the fear and disruption caused by an offender after that person has been imprisoned.
It also raises wider questions about how prisons monitor material that could reinforce obsessive or threatening behaviour.
Prisoners are ordinarily allowed access to publications and television depending on their status and behaviour.
Yet where ordinary material becomes connected to a specific victim or criminal fixation, staff may intervene on security, safeguarding or rehabilitation grounds.
Long Lartin holds men convicted of some of Britain’s most serious offences and operates an incentives system through which privileges can be earned or removed.
A Prison Service spokesperson described the crimes involved as despicable and said it was right that those responsible remained behind bars.
Officials did not, however, publicly provide a detailed account of the reported cell search or disclose what specific measures had been taken.
Plumb remains subject to a life sentence.
Even after completing his minimum term, any evidence that he continued to display obsessive or dangerous behaviour could be considered when his suitability for release is eventually assessed.
For Holly and her family, the hope will be that the prison system takes every necessary step to prevent further fixation and ensure the sentence provides what the original plot threatened to destroy — safety, privacy and peace.
