Man enslaved by his wife and her lover leaves viewers in tears over vile abuse
Tom Somerset-How and his sister Kate joined Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary on This Morning as the abuse victim opened up on being held captive over a ten year period by his wife Sarah Somerset-How and her lover George Webb.
Tom has cerebral palsy and is partially sighted, meaning he needs 24 hour care however, his wife and carer treated him like ‘a cash cow’, starved him, isolated him from his family and left him to live in squalor.
The pair are now behind bars and Tom opened up to the This Morning guests about his horrendous experience in a bid to raise awareness to stop this from happening to anyone else.
After years of abuse and being kept a prisoner in his own home, Tom was able to raise the alarm and police entered his house to find him weighing less than seven stone.
Earlier this month, Tom received justice when Sarah and George were found guilty of holding a person in slavery of servitude in one of the first cases of its kind.
Phillip Schofield mocks Molly-Mae's baby name in cruel swipe at Love Island star
Tom Somerset-How recalled his horrific abuse (ITV)"it was a slow, insidious process, it took us a while to realise what was happening and even at the end we didn't know the full extent of the abuse he was suffering," his sister explained.
Recalling his heartbreaking experience, Tom explained: "Even when there was a social services visit I would say, 'Yes I'm fine' because I knew if they had a hint of something not being right, I would be in trouble when all the doors were close."
Sarah and George would leave a helpless Tom alone in the house even though he required 24 hour care.
"I had the ability to disconnect because if I focussed on it I would get really upset. The only way I could cope mentally was I'd think, 'Okay I'm alone for eight hours a day, this is how I'm going to survive and hopefully nothing major will happen and we can sort everything out when they're back,'" Tom said.
Tom was enslaved by his wife and carer (ITV)One viewers tweeted: "This poor man some horrible evil people out there #thismorning," alongside crying emojis while another added: "I read about this case the other day, awful. Being disabled makes you feel really vulnerable & helpless, the one person you’d expect to not worsen that would be your wife #ThisMorning."
A third wrote: "This is heartbreaking. Evil people. #ThisMorning," and someone else said: "Absolutely heartbreaking the poor guy, glad he’s on the mend now. I hope some serious Justice comes to those 2 evil f***s #ThisMorning."
"Bless Tom, what a lovely man. Horrific what those b******s did to him. Hope they get the book thrown at them #ThisMorning," another shared and a sixth added: "Poor Tom absolutely shocking care he received, there is so evil people. This could happen to anyone #ThisMorning."
Follow Mirror TV on and .
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
