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00:00The arrest is the pivotal moment in any investigation.
00:07Stay where you are!
00:09If you get it wrong, then it's game over.
00:12Get in the ground now!
00:17Police officer with a taser!
00:19Taser, taser, taser!
00:21Taser, taser, taser!
00:26Taser, taser, taser!
00:27Taser, taser, taser, taser!
00:40Everything they're doing is on body-worn video.
00:42Police!
00:43Everything they're doing would be examined by defence lawyers.
00:48They can't make any mistakes.
00:51I haven't done anything wrong!
01:11Outside a block of flats on the edge of town,
01:14preparations for an arrest that will rock the world of show business.
01:20The element of surprise is very important to the police
01:23because, essentially, if they knock on the door
01:26and then the person realises who they are,
01:28they might make efforts to conceal things or hide things
01:31they might have been doing at the time.
01:33And that was very much the case here.
01:35The target, a 36-year-old man,
01:39suspected of planning to kidnap one of Britain's most famous celebrities.
01:45They obviously believed that this threat was imminent.
01:47That's probably why they used the knock on the door with the big red key
01:51rather than a knock on the door with a hand.
01:56Police! Stay where you are!
01:58I do not touch anything!
02:00Close this home!
02:01What's going on?
02:04What the hell is going on?
02:05Listen to what my colleague is going to say.
02:07Right, you're under arrest on suspicion of conspiracy...
02:10Yes?
02:11You do not have to say anything.
02:12What is going on?
02:13What are you talking about?
02:14You're investigating something that's left alone
02:16or anything you do to help.
02:18They wanted an element of surprise.
02:20And I think you can see that on him.
02:22When they actually go in and arrest him, he is shocked.
02:26So, at the moment, you're under arrest for conspiracy...
02:29Who?
02:30Polly Willoughby.
02:31I don't think those ones are wrong.
02:33I'm not going to lie.
02:34She's a fantasy of mine.
02:35I mean, she's a fantasy of a lot of her, isn't she?
02:37Polly Willoughby was arguably the queen of daytime television.
02:52So, she was very much forefront on This Morning,
02:55which is a huge daytime TV show.
02:58She'd been doing it for 14 years.
03:00And I would say that her image was very much that of Girl Next Door,
03:05which, of course, gives her an accessibility to viewers.
03:08And the nature of daytime television
03:10is that you get viewers that watch it all the time
03:13and they start to sort of feel that you're sort of part of their family.
03:21One viewer is determined to take that familiarity
03:24to a new and terrifying level.
03:29Gavin Plum was a severely obese man in his 30s
03:33from Harlow in Essex.
03:35He was previously featured on various documentaries
03:38about weight loss for the BBC.
03:40I only really go out my front door
03:42to put a bin bag in the bin just outside the flat.
03:46And that's every few days.
03:48When I'm in pain, the pain gets so bad that I physically...
03:52It's crippling. It is physically crippling.
03:56Because he's spending so much time at home,
04:00he's exposed to a lot of daytime television.
04:03Holly Willoughby is essentially...
04:05She has been the face of daytime TV for many, many years.
04:08And most days she's on his screen
04:11and he develops this obsession with her.
04:13He gets really, really into wanting to meet her
04:19and then subject her to horrific forms of violence.
04:30More than 4,000 miles away,
04:32a police officer specialising in online investigations
04:36dials into an internet chat room
04:39and spots something suspicious.
04:41We don't know his real name.
04:44He used the pseudonym David Nelson.
04:47He is an officer based in Minnesota in the USA
04:50as part of a unit which specialises in covert operations online
04:54looking into potential groups that are organising acts of violence,
04:59acts of terrorism, human trafficking, sexual violence,
05:02all of that sort of thing, the real dark underbelly of the internet.
05:06The undercover officer was online
05:08and seen some pictures posted of Holly Willoughby
05:11and there was quite an alarming caption saying,
05:14the one that I want.
05:19He really thought he was going to get her
05:20and I believe that's what caught the officer's eye
05:22and then, of course, he's investigated it a little bit further
05:25and pursued what he had in front of him.
05:33The internet chat room is titled Abduct Lovers.
05:36Posting pictures of Holly.
05:39The user calling himself BigBear341987.
05:43Real name, Gavin Plum.
05:46Now being secretly pursued by undercover officer David Nelson.
05:53And at this point, David Nelson,
05:55he's not aware of who Holly Willoughby is.
05:57He's based in America.
05:58He doesn't really have much exposure to the UK television scene.
06:01So he's seeing all these photos
06:03and then he's seeing Plum's messages about her,
06:06about what he wants to do to her.
06:09That officer acted very quickly.
06:11I mean, he's from the States.
06:13I don't even know if he knew who Holly was,
06:15but he absolutely knew that what he was seeing online
06:20was very serious.
06:21I think for Nelson, he's probably seen a relatively young,
06:26very attractive blonde lady.
06:29You know, she's beautiful, isn't she?
06:30Don't forget this cop will also be naturally inquisitive.
06:34He's a police officer.
06:35We're all keen to learn more and want to know what people are doing.
06:38So I think he's probably seen the pictures,
06:40seen the caption and felt the threat was imminent
06:43and that he was going to act on it.
06:53Encouraged by David Nelson's interest,
06:55Gavin Plum reveals more.
06:59Plum even shares a video of his equipment spread out,
07:03so the chloroform, the cable ties, the handcuffs,
07:05all that sort of thing.
07:07Hands and ankle shackles,
07:10ring and ball gag,
07:12three lots of rope,
07:14metal cable ties,
07:16two sets of handcuffs.
07:18He'd bought 400 cable ties.
07:20He'd gone into detail about the address of where she lived.
07:23He was talking about moving Holly once she was unconscious.
07:26I think that's probably the point that you thought,
07:28hang on, this guy's a bit serious.
07:30Growing more convinced the plot is real,
07:39undercover officer Nelson raises the stakes.
07:43To gain the trust of Gavin Plum,
07:46Nelson claims that he's really interested to come over to the UK from the USA to help him out.
07:52And he even goes as far as presenting Plum with a picture of a ticket, a flight ticket to the UK.
07:58It's not a real one, but it's enough to convince Plum that he's serious about coming over here,
08:04to which Plum gets very excited.
08:06And the message Plum sends back once he's had all this is,
08:09shit, it's actually happening.
08:11And it goes from there.
08:13Obviously, he's engaged with him a little bit, which you would do.
08:16You'd tickle it and see what's happening.
08:18He pushed it a little bit further.
08:22He learns Big Bear's real name is Gavin Plum.
08:26And here's his plan, to render Holly and her husband unconscious,
08:30then kidnap the TV star from her home in West London.
08:34He's talking about logistics, that it's a night where they're going to take her to,
08:39how they're going to subdue her.
08:41And it's all... What he's talking about is horrific.
08:47Unknown to Gavin Plum, he's being recorded.
08:52Right. Plan of action. I'll give you a brief rundown.
08:57Don't worry, mate. We've got that sorted. It's all going to be done.
09:01What we're going to do is this, this and this.
09:04Basically, we're going to hit it at night.
09:08Less traffic on the road, et cetera.
09:10Chloroform, both of them.
09:14That way, then, they can both be easily restrained.
09:19From a professional standpoint, of course, you have to take these threats seriously.
09:23He's saying he's going to do it.
09:25So why would we not believe it?
09:27We're then going to force her to make a video, just saying that she's with us under her own free will, and she's really consenting into everything we do to her. So that covers us.
09:40This absolutely had to be taken seriously because he was having conversations online in a forum called Abduck Lovers, and he was having a conversation with an undercover police officer basically saying, this is what I want to do.
09:57We're going to go there in the night. We need two lots of chloroform. He knew that she didn't have CCTV on her house. I mean, he had a level of detail that was quite astounding.
10:10I still think my place might be better because there's cameras everywhere. It's just a temporary thing. Hold her here. You've got bed, you've got warmth, et cetera.
10:19Need you there, mate, obviously. The chloroform bit's going to be fun. Picking the outfits is going to be fun. So if you can get to the UK, to England, that'd be awesome, because then you can be part of it.
10:31David Nelson, an undercover police officer from the other side of the world, he's probably sat back for a minute and thought, I've just come across something here that I was not expecting today.
10:41Plum was certain that he wanted to do this. Nelson felt that the threat was imminent and that he was going to act on it. There is a lot of evidence in this case that they need to get quickly.
10:52The third attempt of 2023, Holly.
11:13Gavin Plum is confident he's found an accomplice to help him kidnap ITV This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby.
11:21But Plum doesn't know that he's been tricked by an undercover officer in the USA using the false name of David Nelson.
11:34Nelson felt the threats coming from Plum were imminent. You know, Plum had said how excited he was. You could tell how excited he was.
11:42Right. Plan of action. I'll give you a brief rundown. Basically, we're going to hit it at night. Less traffic on the road, etc.
11:53Thank goodness that A, Gavin Plum ended up speaking to an undercover officer in America and B, that that officer acted very quickly and he reported it to the FBI.
12:05The US authorities under the instructions of David Nelson will have informed Scotland Yard. Your advice is to safeguard her and then go and investigate him immediately.
12:23Because Plum is based in Essex, Scotland Yard passed this intelligence to Essex police who then trace Plum's address and they go to his address to arrest him.
12:42The arrest team is instructed to take no chances.
12:51As it's police, I don't know how dangerous he is. He could have weapons. So they have literally gone in all weapons blazing to make sure that he is secured as soon as they clamp eyes on him.
13:01They actually arrested him at night, which is very rare. You would normally wait, you know, a good six o'clock in the morning, knock on the door where you know he's going to be at home.
13:09But they didn't want to waste a second with him, which tells you quite a lot. They wanted to get into the address.
13:14They wanted to secure all of the devices and get him in custody before there was either things deleted or he went out to try and commit this offence.
13:22There was a lot of officers there. Again, I think that's probably to do with the search of the property rather than the physical arrest of Plum.
13:28Plum. Here they go.
13:34Police! Stay where you are. Do not touch anything.
13:37What's going on?
13:40What the hell is going on?
13:42Listen to what my colleague has got to say. Right, you're under arrest on suspicion of conspiracy.
13:46Oh, yes. You do not have anything.
13:48She's got the cuff straight on him, the arresting officer. She's literally walked in and cuffed him before she's even said anything to him.
13:54The room is a complete tip. There's just stuff absolutely everywhere. And he's obviously not got much clothing on, unfortunately.
14:02What is going on? What is going on?
14:04What's going on? What are you talking about?
14:06What are you talking about?
14:08What are you talking about?
14:10You're getting moved by? All right?
14:11Yeah, you're very jealous.
14:12No, there's excuse for the arrest to allow for a conscious investigation by an issue.
14:16To who?
14:24To who?
14:25OK, you're talking about it.
14:26To who? Can you please explain to me what the hell is going on?
14:30But it's like he does know already. And then when she's explaining it to him, he's just like pretending he's all shocked and trying to do these facial expressions, but it's not really convincing.
14:44So, at the moment, you're under arrest for conspiracies of people. Who? Holly Willoughby.
14:50I don't think those ones at all.
14:51He realises that the police may well have a lot of information on him that he thought was completely anonymous and private. And at that point, the penny is dropping that he's in very, very hot water.
15:05He was trying to work out in his own head what his story was going to be. The officer was very good with him. She was explaining that you're going to be arrested, you're going to be interviewed over the threats of kidnap for Holly Willoughby. That's the allegation.
15:20Hey, where's that come from?
15:35Already, it looks like he's thinking, where have they got that information from? Who's told them? What one of my accomplices that I've been speaking to has told them this? It's like he feels like someone's sort of like grassed him up or dobbed him in, rather than actually you've done it all your time.
15:49Actually, you've done it all yourself and unraveled this yourself. It's like he's a bit confused by it.
15:54Like I said, it will be explained to you in custody and you'll be interviewed about it. I'm not going to tell you any further than that at this current time, OK?
16:02OK, then.
16:03That is the allegation.
16:05I'm not going to lie, she's a fantasy of mine. I'm going to use to the fantasy of a lot of guys, isn't she?
16:10Yeah, I'm not going to lie, she's a fantasy of mine. She's the fantasy of a lot of guys, isn't she?
16:16Right.
16:17For someone who then goes on to plead not guilty, you would think that perhaps that's not the reality.
16:22It's just, yeah. I think he just genuinely has no idea of what he's done and what's about to hit him, which is the full might of the law. Thank goodness.
16:35I'm not going to lie, she's a fantasy of mine and I'm used to the fantasy of a lot of guys, isn't she?
16:41For someone who then goes on to plead not guilty, you would think that perhaps that's not the right thing to say when you're accused of wanting to try and kidnap her.
16:50That'd be the last thing on your mind if you're getting arrested for kidnap. This is serious.
16:54But all he still wants to talk about is that he fancies her and he's obviously crazy, like he's absolutely deluded.
17:00He's almost pretty much banged to right straight away. It's damning. It's damning.
17:09Gavin Plum then appears to cooperate, but knows the arrest team is close to finding even more compelling evidence.
17:16They need to secure all the evidence before anything is potentially tampered with or moved. And they were right to do that because they broke in and he had no time to put his phone away.
17:39Do you have to put the door in to secure the evidence? All right. You've got no reason.
17:45His phone was right there with these chat logs open. So that's very crucial evidence which they captured straight away.
17:55Now police build a much bigger case that Gavin Plum planned not just kidnap, but also rape and murder.
18:02So we're in the cells now and Plum is a very different man to how he was when police were breaking down his door.
18:11I think deep down he probably at this point knows what he's done is illegal, but he's not willing to admit that and he still hasn't to this day.
18:26After the arrest, the key question for the trial, was Gavin Plum a serious threat?
18:43Gavin Plum is over 30 stone. He's very much obese, not physically capable in the slightest.
18:48And then he is talking about vaulting a wall around someone's house, breaking into their house, subduing Holly and her husband, then taking Holly away, bundling her into a car.
19:02All of this without any alarm being raised.
19:05So the defence went very hard on the notion that this was a fantasy.
19:09The prosecution claimed that despite his size, Gavin Plum did intend to kidnap Holly Willoughby.
19:24Hearing all these facts of cable ties, chloroform, day-to-day living, cameras, he's got somebody flying from America to help him.
19:31His excuse of his weight isn't going to cut it.
19:33He had intent, he was going to carry this out and he had got someone with more physical ability to help him.
19:40And yes, the defence are saying he, you know, he can't physically do it.
19:44No, he couldn't, but he had asked someone else to do it with him.
19:49You might look at Gavin Plum and think this man could never, you know, he's not even going to leave his house.
19:54How could he do any harm on anybody?
19:57Anybody who thinks that has never been the victim of a stalker, for a start.
20:01You know, their actions get inside your head and when they know where you live and when they have a level of detail about your life that they really shouldn't have because they've gone looking for it and they obviously have means of getting it.
20:16Trust me, it's very serious and it should be treated as such.
20:21A 37-year-old man has been jailed for life, serving a minimum of 16 years for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder television presenter Holly Willoughby.
20:36Gavin Plum from Harlow in Essex assembled a toolkit for highly sexualised violence, but he was arrested after he unwittingly disclosed his plans online to an undercover police officer in the US.
20:51Speaking from experience, Officer Nelson did an incredible job. I think he's used his investigative ability in his, you know, his mindset was fantastic because he's just, he just knew it was something to work with.
21:06Um, and I think he did exactly the right thing.
21:09It was revealed that everywhere he went, Gavin Plum was a danger.
21:15Twice, carrying imitation guns, he tried to kidnap women on local trains.
21:21At the nearby shopping precinct, he imprisoned two 16-year-old girls.
21:28After his arrest, police found 10,000 photographs of Holly Willoughby in his flat.
21:38What struck me about Gavin Plum when I first saw the arrest footage was just how sort of mundane and ordinary he seemed.
21:49And to think that somebody like that had such a terrible impact on the life of somebody much loved by the nation was, was almost hard to believe at first.
22:04After 14 years, Holly Willoughby left this morning immediately after the arrest of Gavin Plum.
22:11Her statement said, I now feel I have to make this decision for me and my family.
22:16Today, an ITV spokesperson has released a statement saying this news has come as a huge shock to everyone at this morning at ITV.
22:25We are providing all of the support we can to Holly and her family at this incredibly distressing time.
22:32Everyone I know messaged Holly just to say, we are so sorry that you're going through this and, you know, hope you're okay.
22:42I mean, it's terrifying and she's got young children and all she does is appear on television, do her job, go home, does the school run and to be subjected to this sort of psychological terror.
22:58Actually, that's what it is. No one deserves that. And, you know, it absolutely should be treated very seriously by both the police and the judiciary. And then I'm very glad that in this case it was.
23:11And I just found a body. Right, okay, a body, is it, are they breathing?
23:30No, they're dead. They look like they've possibly been there like a few days or something. Right. Right, okay, bear me a second. Let's pop this on.
23:43Police were called to a report of a body found near the Bennet Road area of Zolcombe on the 27th of June.
23:53Our initial inquiries have identified that female as Mi Chong, a 67-year-old from the Wembley area of London, who was reported missing in London on the 11th of June.
24:06For 16 days, Mi Chong, known as Deborah Chong, has been missing.
24:139 days later, police go to arrest a suspect.
24:25In this case, their suspicion fell on Gemma Mitchell.
24:30It was a dramatic police rage. They turned up at her house. They rammed the door down.
24:36Police!
24:45Hello there.
24:48Hello.
24:49Hello.
24:50Good.
24:51There's an answer.
24:52Sorry, what do you want to do?
24:53I don't want to sleep.
24:54Are you Gemma?
24:55No, no, no.
24:56Okay.
24:57Okay, Gemma.
24:58Can you tell me a second?
24:59Come on.
25:00Come on a second.
25:01Sorry.
25:02Gemma, do you want to come out?
25:03Yeah, sure, sure.
25:04All right.
25:05Hands, just fancy them.
25:06Hands, just fancy your hands.
25:07All right, Gemma.
25:08At this moment, I'm resting on the suspicion of murder.
25:09Okay?
25:10You don't have to say anything, but you may hold your defence.
25:11Do you want to mention one question?
25:12Something which you later rely on in court.
25:14Anything you do say, they'll be given the evidence.
25:16Okay?
25:17Once you're in the cuffs.
25:18All right.
25:19I'll go explain everything to you.
25:21Okay?
25:22Should I get some shoes?
25:23Yeah, sorry.
25:24What?
25:25Who's inside at the moment?
25:26I'm mother.
25:27Your mother?
25:28Yeah.
25:29Okay.
25:32As an investigator, a murder investigator for me, this was one of the most important stages
25:38of an investigation.
25:40Is that arrest?
25:41All right, Gemma.
25:42At this moment, I'm resting on the suspicion of murder.
25:44There's no replicating, standing in front of them, delivering those words and looking
25:50at them in the eye.
25:51How do they respond?
25:53What am I seeing?
25:54At this moment, I'm resting on the...
25:55Gemma Mitchell's reaction, for me, is one of a guilty person.
25:58Okay.
25:59Should I get some cheese?
26:00Yeah, sorry.
26:01What?
26:02Do you want to one sec?
26:03There's no questions being put to the officer.
26:05There's no shock.
26:07There's no reaction that I would expect to see in someone who's completely innocent,
26:12being arrested for the most serious crime you can be arrested for, and just accepting
26:17it.
26:18I wouldn't, would you?
26:20Gemma Mitchell was born in Australia.
26:23She was highly educated.
26:25She then came over to the UK with her mother when her parents separated.
26:30She started to study at King's College London in human sciences, and significantly, there
26:36was a module within that course where she learned to dissect a human body.
26:42She also was a trained osteopath, and she was a devout Christian.
26:48Gemma Mitchell and Deborah Chong met through a church group.
26:53Both of them committed devout Christians.
26:56Very quickly, over a few months, they became very close friends, and there was evidence
27:03of that.
27:04There were hundreds of messages sent between the two of them.
27:09who did they say a lot and use their magic?
27:22Deborah Chong has been missing all day.
27:24Deborah Chong has been missing all day.
27:27Deborah's lodger then arrives at home in the evening, and he notices that Deborah's not there.
27:34He notices also that her glasses and her mobile phone are still in the house.
27:40And he rings police and reports her as missing.
27:50The next day, the lodger decided to message Deborah's good friend, Gemma Mitchell,
27:56just to see whether she had an idea of where Deborah could be.
27:59And Mitchell responded with a text message saying that Deborah decided to go away.
28:05She'd gone to visit friends and she was going there for a year.
28:09And it was somewhere near the ocean.
28:13And that message clearly from Gemma was to try to reassure this lodger.
28:19For two weeks, no-one sees or hears anything from Deborah Chong.
28:23But when her body is discovered in the seaside resort of Sulcombe, Devon,
28:31a murder inquiry begins 200 miles away in London.
28:36It will be the Metropolitan Police responsibility for investigating the crime
28:41because, given all the circumstances, that is where the murder is likely to have taken place.
28:45A murder investigation team of roughly about 20 detectives.
28:50One of the most important roles in this investigation would be that of the CCTV officer,
28:56which would be a detective constable, and it would be their responsibility to collect CCTV.
29:02And then viewing it, understanding what the footage shows.
29:05The CCTV, in this case, was hugely important,
29:12especially around the movements of Gemma Mitchell.
29:23On June 11th 2021, Gemma decides to leave her house quite early on in the morning at around half past six.
29:31Gemma Mitchell was seen pulling a suitcase behind her,
29:37a large suitcase that quite clearly was empty
29:41because it was easy for her to lift and manoeuvre.
29:45And she's sort of just strolling along the street.
29:47She is about to get on a train.
29:55Next, police discover CCTV showing Gemma Mitchell wearing a face mask and a beanie.
30:01She is taking that suitcase to Debra Chong's house.
30:14She's then spotted leaving the house,
30:19dragging along not one but two suitcases.
30:24When she had taken it from her house,
30:27she didn't have any problems dragging it along.
30:29After she left Debra's house,
30:31it's very clear she's having difficulty trying to drag it along.
30:35It looks very heavy,
30:37and she's having difficulty manoeuvring it.
30:39One of them had the body of Debra Chong.
30:44Gemma had just murdered her.
30:46It was clearly something in there that was very heavy,
30:52and she's having to stop,
30:54and then she phoned someone.
30:56She was struggling to move it.
30:58She had to kick the wheels to get it to move.
31:01She then tries to get a taxi at one point.
31:05The other suitcase she's got in that suitcase
31:07were lots and lots of documents,
31:10personal documents belonging to Debra.
31:17In this bit of footage,
31:18she's left one of the suitcases
31:20on the edge of the verge,
31:22and she's dragging up the other suitcase.
31:24And then she spends a good couple of hours
31:27dragging the suitcase,
31:28which had Debra's body in it.
31:31A taxi arrives.
31:40The driver needs help
31:41loading the heavy case into the boot.
31:44It will be 16 days before it's seen again.
31:47Salcombe is a long way from anywhere.
32:05It finds itself in the bottom right-hand corner
32:08of South Devon.
32:09It's a very beautiful place
32:10with lots of sandy beaches
32:13and a reputation for some really expensive houses.
32:15Remember, this was not long after COVID as well.
32:19This is June 2021,
32:21where people would have been
32:22enjoying their staycations,
32:24perhaps unable to go abroad,
32:26and just really wanting to
32:28have a bit of relaxation time by the coast.
32:31And what better place to go
32:32than beautiful Salcombe?
32:34It is about as far as you can imagine
32:37from the type of place
32:39where you would expect to find a body.
32:43I can imagine, too.
32:44This body looks like it's been there some time
33:08because of the amount of decomposition
33:10she can see.
33:13Gemma Mitchell had kept the body
33:14at her house in London for two weeks
33:17and most of the decomposition
33:19would have occurred there.
33:30To cover up her murder of Deborah Chong,
33:33Gemma Mitchell devised an extraordinary plan.
33:35She hired a car in a false name.
33:41She left her phone at home
33:42so that she was leaving no trail in her mind
33:46of going to Salcombe in Devon,
33:49which is about 200 miles from London,
33:51so a huge distance.
33:53And she hired quite a large car,
33:56a Volvo SUV.
33:57Detectives discover more CCTV,
34:03this time recording Gemma Mitchell near home,
34:06loading a suitcase into the hire car.
34:12She's trying to lift it up,
34:14having a lot of difficulty.
34:15It's clearly very heavy,
34:17with Deborah's body in,
34:19into the back of the car.
34:20She keys into the sat-nav
34:24Salcombe, North Sands, Cliff Road.
34:30But close to her destination,
34:32a problem, a flat tyre.
34:38She was helped by an AA technician
34:41at a garage a few miles outside Salcombe.
34:43And he noted how there was a smell in the car
34:47and how when he came to put the spare wheel
34:49back in its normal place,
34:52Gemma Mitchell was deeply uncomfortable with that
34:55and asked him instead to put it on the back seat,
34:58something he said he remembered thinking
35:00was very strange at the time.
35:02But we can only assume that the reason
35:04Gemma Mitchell did not want that wheel
35:07to go back in its rightful place
35:08was that the body, or at least some parts of it,
35:13were in the boot of her car.
35:17Next, police find CCTV of Gemma Mitchell's hire car
35:21heading towards the seafront.
35:25And she drives around a bit there
35:28and then she makes a decision
35:30to dump Deborah's body in woodland.
35:38About 40 minutes after she arrives,
35:42her car that she's using is seen again,
35:44leaving the area,
35:46and then she makes her way back to London.
35:51And I just found her body.
35:54But there is an even more gruesome fact
35:57about the discovery.
35:59The head is missing.
36:02No, they're dead.
36:03They look like they've possibly been there
36:05like a few days or something.
36:08It took some time and a police search
36:13to find Deborah's head
36:14some 10 feet away
36:16from Deborah's body.
36:23Gemma Mitchell was a trained osteopath
36:26and she got a first class honours degree
36:29at King's College.
36:31And as part of her training,
36:33she learnt how to dissect human bodies.
36:38This was an idyllic seaside place
36:42that general crime doesn't happen,
36:45let alone murders.
36:46Let alone murders involved bodies
36:48with decapitated heads.
36:50When she murdered and dismembered Deborah,
37:02Gemma Mitchell suffered an injury herself.
37:05This would give the police video team
37:08more evidence.
37:10Later in the evening,
37:11this is inside St Thomas' Hospital
37:14and you can see
37:16she's got something
37:17wrapped around
37:17one of her fingers.
37:20Almost certainly
37:21in the process
37:23of attacking,
37:25killing and subduing Deborah,
37:26she'd broken a finger.
37:28It would have been a spanner
37:29in the works,
37:29if you like,
37:30so she would have had to have
37:31thought about,
37:32well, under what circumstances
37:33could I have broken my finger?
37:35and she told the hospital
37:37that it's because
37:37she had shut her finger
37:39in the car door.
37:45All right, Gemma,
37:46at this moment,
37:46I'm resting on the suspicion of murder.
37:48During the arrest,
37:49the bandaging is still visible
37:51on Gemma Mitchell's left hand.
37:53Am I allowed to?
37:54I'll go explain everything to you.
37:56OK.
37:56Shall I get some shoes?
37:57Yeah, sorry.
37:57What?
37:58If you want to one sec.
37:59Who's inside at the moment?
38:01My mother.
38:02Your mother.
38:05It's just one moment
38:07in an arrest
38:08that points to Gemma Mitchell's guilt.
38:13What we see
38:14is the officers
38:14are turning up
38:15with what is referred to
38:17in the Metropolitan Police
38:18as an enforcer.
38:21Essentially,
38:22it's like a battering ram.
38:25I think the decision
38:26to use in
38:27the enforcer
38:28was because they wanted
38:29to get hold of the evidence
38:30before Gemma Mitchell
38:31could destroy it.
38:32Gemma, do you want to come out?
38:34Yeah, sure, sure.
38:35All right.
38:36Hands are so easy to your hands.
38:37All right, Gemma.
38:37As soon as Gemma Mitchell
38:39comes to the door,
38:40she's compliant.
38:42She's not in a panic.
38:42She's not violent.
38:43She's not obstructing them
38:45in any way.
38:46So that allows them
38:47to then engage with her
38:49in terms of why they are there.
38:51All right, Gemma.
38:52At this moment,
38:52I'm resting on the suspicion of murder.
38:54OK?
38:54You don't have to say anything.
38:56She physically,
38:57kind of moves back.
38:58She's almost surprised.
39:00Clearly, it's all an act,
39:01but she is very calm
39:02and a real contrast
39:04to how the police
39:05tried to knock down
39:07the front door in her house.
39:10Inside,
39:11police discover the documents
39:13taken away
39:13in the second suitcase,
39:15financial records
39:16of Deborah Chong's
39:18£700,000 estate,
39:20recently updated.
39:23They find a will
39:25that was forged by Gemma
39:27and the will said
39:28that 95% of Deborah's estate
39:31would be left to Gemma
39:33and 5% would be left to Gemma's mother.
39:36That will was forged
39:37after Gemma murdered Deborah.
39:40So that was a really significant
39:42piece of information
39:43that they found
39:44at the property.
39:46Significant,
39:47police found,
39:48because Gemma Mitchell
39:49was banking on money
39:50that Deborah
39:51had offered her.
39:53The roof of Gemma Mitchell's house
39:54needed fixing,
39:56but she claimed
39:57she was out of money.
40:00Deborah offered Gemma
40:01around £200,000
40:02to help her
40:04renovate
40:04and finish the work
40:06on Gemma's house.
40:08At one point,
40:09Deborah went
40:09to have a look
40:10at Gemma's house
40:11and it was a complete tip.
40:13It was like a building site
40:15and it was that visit
40:16that seemed
40:18to change her mind.
40:19Deborah said to Gemma,
40:21I'm not going
40:22to give you the money.
40:23There was a message exchanged
40:24between the two of them
40:25and Deborah was clearly
40:27telling Gemma
40:28to sell the house
40:30and that clearly
40:31triggered something
40:32in Gemma.
40:34Gemma Mitchell
40:35was determined
40:36to get the money
40:38promised to her
40:39by Deborah.
40:40Gemma Mitchell
40:41decided to hatch
40:42a plan
40:43where she would
40:44take that money
40:44anyway,
40:45but that would involve
40:47murdering Deborah.
40:52Deborah Chong,
40:53detectives learned,
40:54had been
40:55a vulnerable target.
40:58She had a number
40:59of mental health issues.
41:00She was diagnosed
41:01with schizophrenia.
41:02She also
41:04was referred
41:05to a local
41:06community
41:06mental health centre
41:08and that was
41:09because she was
41:10sending messages
41:10to the then
41:11Prince Charles.
41:13She thought
41:14that she could
41:14communicate with him
41:15through YouTube.
41:16She was also
41:17sending messages
41:18as well
41:18to Boris Johnson.
41:19So she was
41:20a vulnerable woman
41:22who was trusting
41:23of other people.
41:24in custody,
41:28Gemma Mitchell
41:29is questioned
41:29about driving
41:30Deborah's dead body
41:31to Sulcombe
41:32and her strange behaviour
41:34when her car
41:35had to be fixed.
41:36and they've said
41:39that the person
41:40driving the Volvo
41:43waited
41:44in the car
41:45all that time
41:46with the windows
41:49down
41:49and the front door
41:51opened,
41:52the passenger door
41:53opened
41:53when it was
41:55literally chucking it
41:56down with rain
41:57and it was windy.
41:59Why is that,
42:00Gemma?
42:00No comment.
42:03The car stank,
42:04didn't it,
42:04Gemma?
42:06No comment.
42:07Stank of a dead person.
42:09No comment.
42:10Stank of Deborah's
42:11decomposing body.
42:18Is that right,
42:19Gemma?
42:19No comment.
42:25At the Old Bailey
42:26today,
42:27a woman has been
42:28found guilty
42:29of murder.
42:30and jailed for life,
42:32serving a minimum
42:32of 34 years.
42:35Gemma Mitchell,
42:35aged 38,
42:37an osteopath
42:38from north-west London,
42:39murdered a fellow
42:40churchgoer
42:41and concealed her body
42:43200 miles away.
42:46I covered the trial
42:47and it was
42:49gruesome,
42:50grisly
42:51details
42:52that were
42:52really horrific.
42:54All right, Gemma,
42:55at this moment,
42:55I'm resting on the
42:56suspicion of murder.
42:57OK,
42:57you don't have to say
42:58anything.
42:58This case was
43:00about the ultimate
43:01betrayal of friendship.
43:03And it's not every day
43:04you see a case like that
43:06at the Old Bailey,
43:07you know,
43:07one so horrific
43:09where you're listening
43:10to evidence about
43:11a woman being murdered
43:12and then decapitated
43:14by her friend,
43:15stuffed in a suitcase,
43:16and then her body
43:17dumped in woodland.
43:18And then her body
43:19dumped in woodland.
43:21and then her body
43:23and then her body
43:23and then her body
43:24and then her body
43:24and then her body
43:25and then her body
43:26and then her body
43:26and then her body
43:27and then her body
43:27and then her body
43:27and then her body
43:27and then her body
43:28and then her body
43:28and then her body
43:29and then her body
43:29and then her body
43:30and then her body
43:31and then her body
43:31and then her body
43:31and then her body
43:32and then her body
43:32and then her body
43:33and then her body
43:34and then her body
43:34and then her body
43:34and then her body
43:35and then her body
43:35and then her body
43:36and then her body
43:36and then her body
43:37and then her body
43:37and then her body
43:38and then her body
43:39and then her body
43:40and then her body
43:41and then her body
43:42and then her body
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