8 terrifying celeb kidnappings - from Victoria Beckham to Duffy and Jessica Alba
Holly Willoughby had to be pulled off air just minutes before This Morning last Thursday amid claims a kidnap plot had been uncovered. Gavin Plumb, 36, a 35-stone former pizza delivery driver appeared before Chelmsford Magistrates' Court last Friday accused of soliciting to commit murder and incitement to commit kidnap following his arrest two days earlier. It was alleged the security guard at the Pinnacles Shopping Centre in Harlow, Essex, was in contact with a "third party" in the US to snatch and kill the TV star.
Plumb was remanded in custody and told to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on November 3, after the court was told he had conspired with him to carry out the "detailed plan" and had bought weapons that were discovered at his home. The alleged kidnap plot against Holly is not the first time it has been claimed celebrities were targeted, though it is not suggested Plumb has any connection with any other incidents. Here are some of the famous faces...
Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba was just 14 when she was kidnapped (Dave Benett/Getty Images for evi)
Jessica Alba attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills (Getty Images)Imagine being blindfolded, gagged and shoved in the boot of a car not knowing if you are going to live or die. That’s exactly what happened to American actress Jessica Alba when she was just 14. According to reports she was starring in Flipper when she began getting strange phone calls on set before disappearing from filming. She was later found blindfolded, gagged and restrained in the boot of a car. The Fantastic Four star hasn’t spoken publicly about the incident and the case was closed as she was unable to provide police with further information.
Brooklyn Beckham
Victoria and David Beckham received messages threatening to kidnap their first-born son, Brooklyn shortly after David was given a red card at the 1998 World Cup. "We were getting kidnapping threats right from when we had Brooklyn and you can't even explain how that feels because we couldn't hide," Victoria says in episode two of ‘Beckham’ now showing on Netflix. ’"Imagine having a baby and having death threats?" she adds. "David had to play knowing this was all going on and I was on my own in an apartment with a baby."
The plot to kidnap Brooklyn Beckham even made it onto the front page of the Sunday Mirror (Sunday Mirror)
Brooklyn Beckham and his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham at the Netflix premiere of Beckham in 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)Victoria Beckham
The Beckham’s have had more than their fair share of kidnap threats - in 2002 nine people were arrested in connection with an alleged conspiracy to kidnap Victoria Beckham and demand a £5million ransom. Victoria Beckham was in "absolute and total shock" at the revelations. Scotland Yard foiled the kidnapping plot after receiving information from News of the World reporters who had infiltrated a gang of art thieves only to discover they were also planning to kidnap the former Spice Girl.
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It’s not the first time the Beckhams have been targeted, in January 2000 a plot emerged to snatch Mrs Beckham and her son Brooklyn while her husband was playing for England. The Beckhams were moved to a safe house for 48 hours, but no arrests were made due to a lack of evidence.
Victoria and David Beckham at the Netflix premiere of 'Beckham' in London's Mayfair (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)Kim Kardashian
One of the world's biggest reality TV stars was tied up and captured in Paris in 2016 but managed to break free. Kim Kardashian was in her hotel room wearing just a dressing gown when two men knocked on the door dressed as policemen. In a David Letterman interview she describes how she was tied up with plastic cables and had duct tape stuck over her eyes, mouth and legs.
Her attackers escaped with her US$4 million engagement ring from Kanye West in addition to two diamond Cartier bracelets and a gold Rolex. Unis Abbas and 11 other people were arrested in connection with the robbery, and he served 22 months in prison before attempting to capitalise on the situation even more by publishing a memoir about the crime called I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian.
Duffy
Welsh singer Duffy arrives at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009 (AFP via Getty Images)
Welsh singer and songwriter Duffy in 2008 (Getty Images)Welsh singer Duffy, who won a Grammy for her album Rockferry in 2008, disappeared from the spotlight for a decade after surviving a traumatic incident. In 2020, she wrote a post on her website revealing details about her assault and captivity, but didn’t disclose the identity of the kidnapper. “I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country,” she said, “I was put into a hotel room and the perpetrator returned and raped me.” She concluded, “I can now leave this decade behind … and I am free.”
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch attends the NY special screening of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Getty Images for Disney)
Benedict Cumberbatch attends the Prada fashion show 2023 (Getty Images)The Doctor Strange actor was held at gunpoint in South Africa in 2004. Recalling the terrifying ordeal to Marc Maron on his WTF Podcast, Benedict describes how he was with his two co-stars when their vehicle was ambushed. “I was then put into the boot of the car and at one point my shoelaces were bound to my wrists,” he recounts. The ordeal lasted two and a half hours before the thieves fled with bank cards and money, allowing the crew to call for help.
Justin Long
The Break-up and Jeepers Creepers actor revealed how he was drugged and kidnapped back in 2008 during the filming of Youth In Revolt in Michigan, USA. The well known actor, also known for dating Drew Barrymore in 2019, told Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert two men approached him and a handful of others working in the film in a bar, and asked if they wanted to get in their car and go to a casino.
At one point, they convinced him to smoke cannabis, which the actor believes may have contained a hallucinogen, likely PCP. Long said that the men discussed filming videos of him and joked that they’d send them to TMZ - one of the biggest entertainment news channels in America. Panicking, Long decided to jump out of the vehicle, injuring his leg in the process but never reported the incident to the police.
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