Imprisoned, treated like a dog and kept in squalor by his wife
Guilty of slavery, wife and lover who left disabled man ‘barely’ alive
A DISABLED man was imprisoned in squalor by his wife while she had an affair with his male carer – until his Holby City actress sister burst into the filthy home to rescue him.
Sarah Somerset-How, 49, and her lover George Webb, 50, were yesterday found guilty of holding a person in slavery or servitude in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.
Tom Somerset-How, who has cerebral palsy and is partially blind, was kept barely alive at his home in Chichester, West Sussex, while his wife and Webb treated him ‘like a piece of property’.
Tom’s sister, Holby City actress Kate Somerset-Holmes, and mother, Helen Somerset-How, told of their horror at finding him ‘disorientated’ and ‘very, very thin’ at 6st 10lb (43kg).
Prosecutors said Somerset-How and Webb treated the 40 year old – who needs 24-hour care – as a ‘cash cow’, spending his benefit payments on buying lingerie and DJ equipment. Mr Somerset-How, who was described as an ‘intelligent’ history graduate from a wealthy family, was fed crisps and allowed one shower a week by his wife and her lover.
He was finally saved in a rescue operation by family, police and social services that was said to ‘have the marks of extracting someone held as a hostage’.
Ms Somerset-Holmes, a West End star and TV actress, said she had to ‘ambush’ Webb to gain access to her brother, who she found in ‘squalid’ conditions. She said she had knocked at the home in 2018 twice a day for five days but no one came to the door.
‘Tom smelt terrible, like he hadn’t been washed in weeks’, she told a jury. ‘His nails were long and his hair was greasy. It was disgusting.’
After a four-week trial at Portsmouth Crown Court, jurors deliberated for a little more than 12 hours before finding Webb and Somerset-How guilty of slavery. Webb was also convicted of illtreatment by a care worker while Somerset-How was convicted of aiding and abetting him from 2018 to 2020.
Watching from the public gallery, Mr Somerset-How’s family cheered with each guilty verdict, while he was overcome with emotion. He said: ‘I am pleased with the verdict. Justice has been served.’
During the trial, prosecutor Paul Cavin KC said the couple took ‘total control over his life, just as you would with a dog’. He added: ‘Every aspect of his life was controlled. He became a prisoner in his own home. He was dependent on his abusers to stay alive.’ Somerset-How and Webb will be sentenced later this year.