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A 36-year-old man has been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to kidnap British TV presenter Holly Willoughby.
The accused, Gavin Plumb, has been charged with “soliciting to commit murder, incitement to commit rape, and incitement to commit kidnap.” He will appear in court today.
Willoughby did not appear on Thursday’s edition of her daytime ITV show This Morning. The presenter is said to have been under police protection at her home on Thursday night.
Essex Police said the suspect was arrested on Wednesday and is currently in custody. Multiple media reports state the 36-year-old is not known to Willoughby. It is still unclear how police became aware of the alleged kidnap plot, but The Sun newspaper first reported that a mobile phone and other digital devices were seized during the arrest.
The Sun’s report states that police alerted This Morning producers to the plot early Thursday morning, and Willoughby was informed “shortly” before she was due on air.
In a statement, detective superintendent Rob Kirby said: “This was an extremely fast-paced investigation, with many of our officers and national partners working overnight to secure these charges. The safeguarding of any victim is paramount and we will continue to prioritize this and working with the Metropolitan Police Service as the investigation proceeds.”
The incident comes after a turbulent few months for Willoughby, who has presented This Morning since 2009. She was engulfed in the scandal surrounding her former co-star Phillip Schofield, who admitted to an “unwise but not illegal” sexual relationship with a younger male employee.
In her first on-air comments about the scandal on This Morning, Willougby said she had been “shaken, troubled, let down” by Schofield.
She added: “Worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions. You, me, and all of us that This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt like they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process and it’s equally hard to see the toll that it’s taken on their own mental health.
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