Gavin Plumb could have been stopped sooner, says survivor

Before Gavin Plumb plotted the kidnap, rape, and murder of Holly Willoughby, he targeted four other women and teenage girls.

One of them - who we are referring to as Maria - said Plumb attempted to kidnap her from a train.

She has never spoken before about what happened to her, but agreed to speak to me on the condition she remained anonymous.

It was 2006 and Maria was on the train on the way to the airport she worked at.

She had not done her hair and makeup so sat at the back of the train carriage so she could finish getting ready.

The train carriage was practically empty so she thought it seemed odd when someone sat opposite her.

Describing the incident, she said: "He passed me a note, I thought it’s just some piece of paper, I didn’t even look what he was doing. I ignored it.

"Then he pushed it forward for me to read and when I read it, it was something along the lines of 'get off the train with me, be quiet, don’t do anything, get off the train with me and nothing will happen to anybody'."

Gavin Plumb's mugshot after he was arrested in 2023

Maria continued: "He had a rope and replica gun on him. As I read that note it was only then I looked at him. My first impression was that: he is huge, I have no chance.

"There was this moment when I was frozen and scared. But it was also disbelief, I thought maybe he is joking, it is absurd, but he started approaching me with his hands, he held his hand on my knee and he was indicating that 'we are going to go'.

"After the initial freeze and disbelief I realised what’s going on and I was frightened, that feeling was growing because I started realising that this massive man wants to get me off the train and I knew the next station is in a small village."

Maria knew the station would be quiet at that time and was surrounded by bushes and woods.

'Worst scenarios in my head'

"I had all the worst scenarios cooking in my head. And I thought if I get off that train, he can do anything and so my thought was not to get off that train at any cost," she said.

Maria recalled how she clung to her seat and desperately made eye contact with another woman on the train, silently pleading for help.

That woman realised something was very wrong and ran to a man who was sitting at the other end of the carriage.

As the pair approached Maria, Plumb fled and got off the train.

Days later Plumb tried to kidnap another woman from a train - she also escaped unharmed.

Both Maria and the second survivor were wearing uniforms from the airline they worked at.

He told a court he had a "stewardess fantasy".

'Lack of punishment was only encouragement'

Plumb, who is now 37, received a suspended sentence for the attempted kidnaps.

Two years later he terrified two 16-year-old girls when he tied their wrists up and forced them into the store room of a shop.

Asked if she felt a custodial sentence may have stopped the future attacks, Maria said: "I believe so, I believe that lack of punishment was only encouragement.

"He could go unpunished doing whatever he did, if he got away with it – why not try again?"

Plumb's crime against Maria has had a lasting impact, particularly her feelings about men.

"Potentially every man can be a perpetrator and I understand that so many women think along the same lines. A large man sitting right next to a girl: that is a potential danger.

"It is really sad but that is one of those takeaways from that unfortunate story for me. When I look at men I very often do that quick judgement, what level of danger are they?"

Maria says she feels sorry for Holly Willoughby

Maria said when she heard about Plumb's plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby, she thought he had done something which "was bad enough to finally find him guilty and keep him in custody and keep him away from society."

"I do feel for Holly because obviously she had to go through it in the spotlight, it must be difficult," she said.

"You do not want your name to be attached to a person like Gavin Plumb and this is one reason I want to remain anonymous. I do not want to be associated with him in any way."

Plumb's trial for his crimes against Ms Willoughby made Maria anxious again and she told me she had been struggling to sleep.

Asked what she thinks of Plumb now, she said: "I feel like he lost his life, anybody has capacity to have a wonderful life ahead of them.

"He has in my eyes, he has nothing in life. It makes him in a way more dangerous, you know a person who has nothing to lose.

"No ability to control himself. I almost feel pity for him."

Plumb was sentenced on Friday to life in prison for plotting the kidnap, rape and murder of Ms Willoughby.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this piece, you can seek support at BBC Action Line.