Gavin Plumb: Face of Dublin pervert ‘He-Man’ who exchanged sick messages with stalker Holly Willoughby

Gavin Plumb was jailed this week after a court heard he had developed an “obsession” with the presenter and had prepared a “kidnap kit” – complete with handcuffs and metal zip ties – to help carry out the attack.

During Plumb’s high-profile trial, it emerged that the 19kg security guard had been having obscene conversations about the former ITV star with an undercover US policeman on an internet chat room called Abduct Lovers.

However, it was detailed how he used the chat to share intimate details of the plot with an Irish user known as “Marc”.

However, reports have emerged that Marc is a convicted Dublin stalker called Mark Mulligan, whose identity was previously revealed by the Sunday World.

We revealed that he dressed up as cartoon character “He-Man” on a dating site.

In 2014, Mulligan, of Clongriffin, north Dublin, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for harassing a mother and claiming he “would like to rape” her three-year-old son.

The trial also heard that Mulligan had made references to the children of RTE “celebrities” and to the abduction and rape of boys and girls.

During what his defence lawyer described as a “disgusting fantasy conversation”, Mulligan said he “would like to rape” the three-year-old son of a woman he knew because she “annoyed him”.

It emerged this week that Mulligan had exchanged thousands of messages with Plumb, in which he told him during the trial that he felt they were developing a “true friendship”.

In one conversation, Plumb told the Dubliner that they would need to find someplace secluded where they could keep Holly after her kidnapping.

In response, Mulligan said: “Definitely in the middle of nowhere so no one can hear her scream… Celebrities, they think they’re full of themselves, they need to be put in their f***ing place.”

As with Plumb, Mulligan’s sick fantasies landed him in front of a judge in 2014.

The evidence given at the Central Criminal Court was a far cry from the benign image Mulligan tried to portray on his profile on a popular dating website, uncovered by the Sunday World.

He wrote: “I am laid back, I like walking, photography. I go to the cinema from time to time, I like when I can go to the theatre, to comedy shows, I watch few things on TV.

“I started going out again because I want to lose a few pounds. “If you want to know more, message me, I’m looking for a date and maybe more, depending on where the first date is, so no one-night stands or anything like that.”

However, in court, Mulligan’s true nature was revealed – a sick and depraved pervert.

The court heard evidence from Mulligan, who told an unknown person on Skype that he “would like to rape” the three-year-old son of a woman he knew because she “pissed him off”.

He then sent a candid photo of the boy to a second person. The second man, using the online identity rodub82, said, “Let’s catch him.”

The accused replied, “Mmm, let him watch while we kill his mom and dad, and then we’ll kill him.”

Garnet Orange SC, defending, told the jury that the online exchange took place between two people who concealed their identities and was disturbing but in the nature of a private conversation.

He stated that nothing more was done.

After a one-day trial, the jury of 10 men and two women took 44 minutes to unanimously find the defendant guilty.

Mulligan, of Railway Road, Clongriffin, Dublin, pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to producing child pornography at his home between March 1 and 17, 2013.

In one online text conversation on the morning of St. Patrick’s Day, Mulligan told rodub82, “There are a lot of horny kids at the parade today.”

He later wrote that he “would like to have a cottage in the middle of nowhere and take kids there, rape them, torture them… and shit on their graves.”

Rodub82 said they could act “like a couple of Nazi prison guards.” Killed Mulligan added: “I love to pick up someone late at night, boy, girl, man, woman, and rape the bastard. Every time I hear someone’s been raped it turns me on – and even more so when someone gets killed?”

He also said he wanted to kidnap and rape a pregnant woman and then “pull the baby out of her.”

Mulligan asked rodub82 which Irish celebrity he would like to rape, and rodub82 named actress Saoirse Ronan, while Mulligan suggested “any of the RTE reporters”.

The second user replied, “I prefer kids,” and Mulligan agreed and said it would give them something to remember.

Mulligan told police that all of these conversations were simply “sick fantasies” and he had no intention of acting on them.

He said: “I just said that, I was never supposed to meet anyone. We talked about rape fantasy, in my opinion nothing was done about it. It was just a fantasy.

“I’m obsessed with talking about rape and torture. I know I need help. I wish I didn’t have these thoughts.”

He said that while on the website gayireland.com he came into contact with a user whose username was “perv” and during their Skype conversation he said he had “stupidly” said he was interested in raping young people.

Mulligan said he does not feel sexually attracted to children.

“I was lonely, curious, I felt like an undercover reporter trying to get information. I had no real friends, I was withdrawn from reality. I just wanted to talk to people,” he said.

This week, Holly Willoughby praised the “courage” of Plumb’s previous victims who spoke out after he was found guilty of “drastic” plans to kidnap, rape and murder the TV presenter.

The former This Morning host also thanked the undercover police officer who “understood the imminent threat” to her life and helped thwart his plan.

After the guilty verdict was announced, Willoughby said in a statement: “As women, we should not feel threatened in our daily lives and in our own homes.

“I will always be grateful to the undercover police officer who understood the impending threat, and to the Metropolitan Police and Essex Police for their rapid response.

“We thank the Attorney General, His Excellency Mr Justice Murray, Alison Morgan KC, the members of the jury and everyone involved in this case for ensuring that justice was done and that the defendant was unable to harm any more women.

“I would also like to commend the courage of his previous victims who have spoken out on this matter.

“Without their courage, this conviction might not have been possible.”

During the trial, the jury heard about Plumb’s two prior convictions for attempted kidnapping in 2006 and two other false imprisonment offences committed in 2008.

He claims he had a “stewardess fantasy” when in August 2006 he tried to force two stewardesses to leave a train over the course of three days.

Plumb was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a supervision and action requirement for two attempted kidnapping offences; for the offences of false imprisonment he was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment.