A thirty six year old man has been accused of soliciting to commit murder and incitement to commit kidnap in connection with This Morning's Holly Willoughby.

Gavin Plumb appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates Court on Friday, 6 October , after being held by officers on Wednesday.

Essex Police confirmed they arrested the suspect on Wednesday and he was charged on Friday morning.

Superintendent Tim Tubbs 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 prioritise this as the investigation proceeds."

It comes as the This Morning star failed to appear on the TV sofa on Thursday and was placed under "police guard".

After first hearing of the news, Holly was said to be “distraught” as she was only alerted to the allegations when police informed producers moments before she was due on-screen.

On Friday, Holly's ITV colleagues said it was a "really worrying sinister story" as they discussed what the TV star has been going through.

Ben Shephard said: "This is a really worrying sinister story for a good friend of ours, a colleague, of course we know Holly very well she only works in the studio next to us."

Lorraine Kelly addressed the story on Friday's episode of her programme Lorraine, saying it was "very, very upsetting".

She added: "Of course we are sending Holly all of our love and best wishes, that is a terrible thing to be having to go through for her and her family."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also addressed the case as he appeared on This Morning on Friday, saying: "Before we get going, I'm so sorry to hear everything going on with Holly.

"I just wanted to send my best to her and her family, and to all of you."

A spokesperson for ITV said: "This news has come as a huge shock to everyone at This Morning and ITV. We are providing all of the support we can to Holly and her family at this incredibly distressing time."

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