THE ex-girlfriend of twisted security guard Gavin Plumb has revealed how he threatened their two children weeks before his arrest – and even blamed her for his sick crimes.
Laura Roberts, 38, was in an on-off relationship with the “sadistic monster” for four years before he was locked up for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder TV star Holly Willoughby.
Now, she has bravely shared the horror she endured at the hands of the “sadistic monster”.
Last month, 37-year-old Plumb was handed three concurrent life sentences – one for each of the offences he planned to commit against Holly – with a minimum term of 15 years.
The 35-stone loner will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life and has been handed a restraining order.
Holly, 43, bravely waived her anonymity in regards to the incitement to rape count so that she could be named in court.
And now, Laura (the mother to Plumb’s two children) has spoken out about the violence and fear she endured at the grotesque offender’s hands.
Laura met Plumb when they were just kids themselves.
He was a year younger and used to call round to the her family home to play out with her younger sister.
“I thought he was kind and sweet,” Laura bravely revealed to Bella magazine.
“We grew closer and, when I was 19, we became a couple.”
The pair moved in together after a few months but Plumb “started to show signs of controlling behaviour” around eight months in.
He controlled Laura’s finances and would tell her that nobody else would ever want her – “he made me feel like I needed him,” she said.
Plumb then exposed his violent side and would hit Laura in the face, as well as slap and kick her body.
“As I’d cower in the corner, he would smirk and laugh as he stood over me,” she recalled.
“He seemed to enjoy it when I was scared.”
Given his vicious tendencies and perversions enjoy watching women scared, it’s no surprise that Plumb went on to try and abduct two air hostesses on separate occasions while in a relationship with Laura.
One of the women even bravely shared her story in the wake of his trial this year.
She revealed that in 2006, he approached her while she was sat alone at the back of the train.
Armed with a replica gun and a rope, Plumb perched next to his victim and slid her a note telling her to quietly follow him off the train.
His violence got worse and worse, so I turned to my family and the police for help. I got my son and escaped
Laura Roberts
She was fortunately able to signal to other passengers that she was in distress.
Plumb immediately fled the scene, but he was later arrested.
He was charged and held in prison on remand before receiving a suspended 12-month sentence.
He managed to convince Laura that both women were lying, meaning they continued their on-off relationship throughout 2006 and welcomed a son in the December.
He was a lying and sadistic monster
Laura Roberts
“His violence got worse and worse,” Laura said about the month’s following her son’s birth.
“I didn’t want his influence on my son’s life, so I turned to my family and the police for help.
“I got my son and escaped.”
Shortly after escaping Plumb’s violence, Laura discovered she was pregnant again.
Her daughter was born in November 2008 but Plumb was arrested again when she was just two-weeks-old.
This time, he was accused of holding two 16-year-old girls at knife point in the shop where he worked as a security guard.
The teens reported that he held them in the storeroom and began tying them by the wrists.
Fortunately, one of the girls was able to escape and raise the alarm.
He sent me vile messages on Facebook. He even threatened to hurt our kids. The police arrested him, but let him go and I was scared of what he might do next
Laura Roberts
Plumb was put on remand in prison, where Laura had to take their two young children to see him.
“Again, he denied it and I desperately tried to believe him,” she said.
“When his trial started the following year, I attended every day and straightaway, it was crystal clear that the girls were telling the truth.
“He was a lying and sadistic monster.”
By Holly Christodoulou, Digital Court Editor
YEARS before Plumb had even set his sights on Holly, he became fixated on fulfilling a warped kidnap fantasy.
The security guard spent his time hunched over a computer screen as he trawled through forums dedicated to abduction.
In 2006, Plumb tried to lure a terrified cabin crew worker off a train using a threatening note.
He wrote: “I have got a gun. All you have to do is keep quiet. Do what I say. So just stand up and get off at the next stop with me. Don’t cry or make a sound.
“Don’t stop me from touching you because I won’t hurt you. If you do all of this, no-one will get hurt but if you don’t I am going to shoot you and myself and everyone else.”
Although the plan failed, undeterred Plumb tried again just two days later when he stumbled across another air stewardess on a train.
This time – armed with an imitation firearm and rope – he pretended to be a police officer to get the woman off the train and kidnap her.
But again the plan failed and Plumb retreated back to his online friends to hone his plan.
He put this into practice in 2008 when he attempted to tie up two teenage girls while working in Woolworths.
Holding one 16-year-old at knifepoint, he told her: “Get to the back of the storeroom”.
He was locked up but released two years later where he set the wheels in motion to snatch his “ultimate fantasy” Holly.
Drawing from his previous experience, Plumb knew exactly what it would take to “terrify and overpower a woman”.
This was evident in his “restraint kit”, which consisted of handcuffs, shackles, a gag and two bottles of chloroform.
Thankfully for Holly, he chose the wrong online accomplice to reveal his plan to – an undercover cop who was able to warn police before it was too late.
Hopefully Plumb will now be locked up for a long time so he won’t be able to make his disturbing fantasy a reality.
The “monster” was found guilty and handed 32 months in prison, but served just half of his sentence and was released in 2010.
Laura recalled her fear of him “tracking her down” and “threatening to take the children”.
She spent three years terrified of her ex before moving their children from Essex to Great Yarmouth for a fresh start in 2013.
Laura, who found a new partner and welcomed two children with him, didn’t hear from Plumb for years.
That all changed in June 2023.
The vile criminal “tracked her down” and travelled over 100 miles to find her in her new seaside home.
“I didn’t see him but he sent me vile messages on Facebook,” she said.
“He even threatened to hurt our kids.
He told the court that our ‘extremely toxic’ relationship was to blame for his attempts to kidnap two air hostesses. He also said that his attack on the teen girls was a ‘cry for help’ to escape from me
Laura Roberts
“The police arrested him, but let him go and I was scared of what he might do next.”
What Plumb did next was a crime that shocked the nation.
He hatched a twisted plan to kidnap, rape and murder former This Morning presenter Holly.
The loner began obsessing over Holly when his weight ballooned to 35 stone.
He talked about places where Holly would be kept and repeatedly raped and abused by him
Laura Roberts
As he was housebound, he began watching more daytime TV, which led to him developing a “celebrity crush” on Holly.
This turned sinister when Plumb set his sights on snatching the presenter after spending years researching kidnapping celebs.
He wanted to abduct and tie Holly up, then take her to a “dungeon” where her screams would not be heard “for miles”.
The security guard also said his “home invasion” plan to snatch the star would guarantee that “Phil will get a new co-host” – referring to Holly’s former This Morning host Phillip Schofield.
As his ideas began to take shape, Plumb ordered 400 “heavy duty” cable ties from Amazon for a “restraint kit”.
He also purchased two £9.20 bottles of chloroform, handcuffs, shackles and a gag – with a chilling image showing all the instruments laid out on his bed.
His twisted plans were only foiled when he divulged all the chilling details to undercover cop David Nelson on a site called Abduct Lovers.
In alarming one-on-one chats, he shared videos of the kit and a map showing the route between his house in Essex and Holly’s home.
I think they should throw away the key. I have seen the darkest side of him and he is capable of evil. I don’t believe he’ll ever change
Laura Roberts
Plumb also used the alias “BigBear” to post pictures of the star on the shocking website.
Believing the plan was a “credible” one, Nelson contacted both the FBI and police, who swooped on the twisted loner’s home in October last year.
“He talked about places where Holly would be kept and repeatedly raped and abused by him,” Laura said.
“Plumb’s defence was that this was just fantasy and he never had any intention to turn it into a reality.
It made my blood boil when he tried to blame his despicable actions on me
Laura Roberts
“But the jury saw through his lies and were told about his previous convictions.
“It made my blood boil when he tried to blame his despicable actions on me.
“He told the court that our ‘extremely toxic’ relationship was to blame for his attempts to kidnap two air hostesses.
“He also said that his attack on the teen girls was a ‘cry for help’ to escape from me.”
After a seven day trial that Laura followed closely, Plumb received his three life sentences.
“I think they should throw away the key,” she added.
“I have seen the darkest side of him and he is capable of evil.
“I don’t believe he’ll ever change.
“Holly Willoughby is just the lovely lady from the TV.
“I’m so sorry she has had to go through all this hell because of him.”
