'Social media companies must tackle sinister chats'

TV presenter Holly Willoughby was the target of a plot created online to kidnap, rape and murder her

A senior detective has called on social media firms to take robust action against "sinister" behaviour online, after a man was sentenced for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby.

Det Ch Insp Greg Wood, of Essex Police, said it was "a really dangerous time online", with "so much space" being "unmoderated".

Gavin Plumb, 37, used WhatsApp and Kik to plot how he could attack and ultimately kill the TV presenter.

A spokesman for WhatsApp said end-to-end encryption meant it could not read users' messages. Kik was contacted for comment.

Plumb, from Harlow, used a Kik group called Abduct Lovers - which had 50 active members - to meet like-minded people.

He was caught by an undercover police officer from the US who had been operating covertly in the forum.

A subsequent investigation found the defendant had also been using WhatsApp to send highly graphic and sexualised messages about his plan to target Ms Willoughby.

A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found the 37-year-old guilty of soliciting murder, inciting rape and inciting kidnap. He was jailed on Friday for a minimum of 16 years.

Det Ch Insp Greg Wood said "so much space" was unmoderated online

Mr Wood said social media companies must do more to moderate its users, as "there isn't an undercover law enforcement officer on every chat room".

"Gavin Plumb was active in a really overt forum called Abduct Lovers – so it wasn't secret, it wasn't covert," he told the BBC.

"There is a responsibility on social media companies to take more decisive action against people who are perpetrating crimes overtly in the online space.

"If they tell us about it, we'll take action. Unless we're told, there's only so much we can do.

"I think it's a really dangerous time online, there's so much space that is unmoderated."

Gavin Plumb was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday

Women's safety consultant Karen Whybro, from Chelmsford, said the psychology of people's attitudes towards women should be studied.

She said grassroots misogyny could feed into "much more sinister behaviour" in the online space.

"We really need to tackle the lower level behaviours and take those seriously before it gets to the point of this man," Ms Whybro said.

"[He] actually took it to the point of making a plan and contacting people to play that out in real life."