Cheating wife and carer who kept Holby City star's disabled twin as slave jailed
The wife and carer of a disabled man have been jailed for 11 years for enslaving him while they had an affair, in a case believed to be the first of its kind in the UK.
Tom Somerset-How was “treated like property” by Sarah Somerset-How, 49, and George Webb, 50, who were having trysts behind his back. Today Somerset-How and Webb have both been jailed for 11 years.
They were found guilty of holding Mr Somerset-How in slavery/servitude and three counts of ill-treatment by a care worker between 2016 and 2020 following a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.
Webb, whose temper was described by the victim as a "nuclear bomb anger", was also convicted of causing actual bodily harm while both defendants were found not guilty of fraud by false representation and theft.
The court heard how Mr Somerset-How - brother of Holby City actress Kate Somerset-How - was held like a “prisoner in his own home” in Chichester, West Sussex, where he was cut off from his loved ones and was in effect treated like a slave.
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Tom Somerset-How (David Clarke/Solent News)
His twin sister Kate was in court to hear the verdict (Simon Czapp/Solent News)The 40-year-old, who has cerebral palsy and is almost blind, requires 24-hour care but the pair abandoned him in his bed for the vast majority of the time. He was not able to brush his teeth for a year and was allowed a shower once a week.
He eventually raised the alarm sparking a rescue operation which the court heard was akin to a “hostage extraction”. His wife and carer were charged under modern slavery legislation of holding a person in slavery or servitude.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Somerset-How described how he was shocked to find out that his wife and Mr Webb had a "five-year plan" to continue their exploitation of him and that they "despised" him.
He said: "The extent of the betrayal was hard to bear for a long time, I felt I was just being kept alive, when the reality sank in, this really was my life, I wanted to end it all, I couldn't even manage that."
He added: "I feel like Sarah has ruined me for anyone else, I feel abandoned like I was pushed to one side, I couldn't trust the one person who should have been on my side."
He continued: "Before I met Sarah, I had a career, I went to the cinema and the pub, I had friends and I had a great life.
"When we first got together, she and I would do these things together, when George came into our lives, these things stopped."
Sarah Somerset-How has been jailed (PA)
George Webb has also been jailed (PA)He said that he had been worried that he would not have been able to build bridges with his family, including his mother, who he had pushed away while being "monitored" by his wife and Webb to ensure he did not reveal their treatment of him.
He said: "I couldn't explain to her what was happening, I thought it was better they stay away, protect them from George and the nuclear bomb that was his anger."
Mr Somerset-How said that he was now living in a care institution but had ambitions to live more independently again.
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Sentencing the defendants, Judge William Ashworth praised Mr Somerset-How for his "courage" and said: "I find as fact of which I am sure that Tom Somerset-How was held in slavery for at least two years and eight months, kept in bed, deprived of adequate food or water, kept away from his family with the curtains drawn, frequently in his own urine and excrement, unwashed and unkempt."
He added: "He was denigrated by the defendants and humiliated and his requests to go to the toilet scorned."
During the trial, the couple's lawyers attempted to have the slavery charges dismissed, arguing there was no evidence Mr Somerset How was being treated as a 'possession'.
Paul Cavin KC, prosecuting, said: "This statute was drafted broadly and for good reason, because in the past they had very narrow definitions. “The Crown say that both slavery and servitude can be made here.
"It is servitude by coercion by keeping him in a position where he was providing a service. He was allowing them to live off him. By keeping him alive he provided them with a roof over their head. It is the use of him and effective imprisonment of him, keeping him away from his family, that allowed them to use his benefits. That is why this applies to both slavery and servitude.
Tom before his ordeal (Sussex Police/Solent News)
Tom says his life completely changes when his carer came into his life (David Clarke/Solent News)"If there was no benefit to the defendants and they decided to have an affair and keep the partner in a room and he was disabled that would be slavery because it is a complete denial of autonomy. If they hadn't enslaved him, he would have dismissed Webb and maybe divorced his wife.
"This is a man who had all his autonomy taken away from him. Total ownership had been taken over him in a way that a master does over a dog when he puts him in the kitchen."
Attempting to have the charge dropped, Robert Bryan, George Webb's defence barrister, said: "Slavery can't just involve exploitation, it must be exploitation plus. There is no evidence from which an inference can be drawn that Tom was Mrs Somerset-How or Webb's possession. The essence of slavery is treating someone like an animal or object.
“What the Crown is attempting to do is to shoehorn a particularly unattractive case into slavery. We would have to be extremely careful because bad cases make bad law. The use of him for this money does not amount to slavery. Tom's rights had not been removed to the extent that he had been kept in slavery. He still had his human rights."
Rejecting the defence application, Judge Ashworth concluded: "There is ample evidence Tom was held as if he was a cattle or animal. The circumstances were just above survival. The defendants could utilise Tom so that Webb could continue to be employed and they could both stay at the address."
Speaking out after his wife and her lover were found guilty Mr Somerset-How said the moment he heard the verdicts following a four week trial at Portsmouth Crown Court, Hampshire, was "absolutely beautiful".
Tom Somerset-How with his mum Helen (David Clarke/Solent News)He said: "The cherry on top was hearing the Tannoy telling Sarah's lawyers to 'come to the cells'. It was so satisfying to get retribution. The fact that they're not swanning around thinking they got away with it - they're locked up in a dark cell."
Sarah Somerset-How outside Portsmouth Crown Court (Solent News & Photo Agency)
George Webb (Solent News & Photo Agency)Mr Somerset-How met his wife in 2008 through Gina Zeelie, a friend who worked with Mrs Somerset-How. At this time, he was living in sheltered accommodation and recovering from surgery.
In 2010, they moved into a purpose-built bungalow in Chichester, West Sussex, and had 24-hour care paid for by social services during the week, with his wife providing weekend cover. The couple married in 2012.
Mr Somerset-How said: "Sarah was actually really lovely. We met through Gina, I was having a bad time and she said she had a friend I could talk to. I don't go for physical attractiveness, I just want them to love and see me as I am."
Webb, working for the healthcare agency NursePlus, arrived in 2016 to help care for him, with the three of them living in the same house. This then transitioned into private care, paid for by Mr Somerset-How at a rate of £4,000 a month. In 2018, the jury concluded, the couple began to abuse him.
When Webb first joined as his carer, everything seemed normal. Mr Somerset-How said: "It was really easy at the start. I'm a social chameleon. I will adapt my interests to someone else's. I got into football because they liked it. Sarah really likes football.
Tom took a selfie on the morning of extraction (Sussex Police/Solent News)"In the first month of George joining he was actually really good. It just got to the point where he got his feet under the table and that was it, he was done now. I enjoy football, but I thought I had to be extra invested. If I shared George's interests he would speak to me.
"It got bad within a month. He was my carer, I looked past it. I thought it was just a glitch. I knew he had anxiety, and because of the way my life is, with whatever my carer had, I tried to make their life easier. At the start, we would still do days out. Sarah would take me out every few months."
However, his feelings began to change. "I said to Sarah 'you have fired so many carers for so much less, why is he still here?'," he said. "She would just say he has us over a barrel."
Mr Somerset-How's actress twin sister Kate, who has appeared in Silent Witness and Holby City, told the court she had to "ambush" the carer to gain access to her brother, who she found in "squali" conditions. She told jurors that her brother was "disorientated and very, very thin".
The court heard his weight had plummeted to 6 stones 10lbs, and he was found unwashed in "disgusting" living conditions. The jury was told that, eventually, Mr Somerset-How managed to raise the alarm to Ms Zeelie about how he was being treated and she alerted his parents.
They then staged a rescue with police and social services, 'an operation that had the marks of extracting someone as a hostage', the court heard. "When I got in touch with Gina and I was waiting to be rescued, I was like a cat on a hot tin roof," he said. "We tried to get the police because of George's volatility but we were told there was no one available.
Tom is finding it hard to trust people (David Clarke/Solent News)
The pair was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court (Solent News & Photo Agency)"The minibus to take me away was supposed to park around the corner and they were supposed to come when they weren't there to take me away. But they drove it right up to the front door and said 'we're here to take Tom away'. Me and the social worker were like 'really?' It happened all at once. I don't think George and Sarah registered it."
Mr Somerset-How is now living in residential accommodation in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. He said: "It would be great if I could go back to the house, but also it holds so many memories. It was custom-built for me.
"I am grateful for the place I am now. If it wasn't for them I would be dead. The state that I was in...both physically and emotionally. My friend didn't even recognise me. I don't sleep anymore. I was in a dark room all the time with just a bedside table lamp. I tried to sleep in complete darkness when I got out but I couldn't. I sleep with two bedside lights on - it's not a conscious thing.
"I sleep only three of four hours a night before waking up. It's because I spent those four years too scared to sleep. I didn't feel safe. When I was giving me evidence, I heard audible gasps from the jury. My family told me they were crying. I don't want sympathy, I just don't want it to happen to anyone else.
"Psychologically, I can't trust anyone at face value anymore. I'm just thinking 'what's your agenda?'"
Mr Somerset-How added: "My family has been amazing. I'm very lucky that I have very close friends too. They said they felt guilty and they're never letting me out of their sight again. I appreciate it. I know there are multiple people watching my back. I've grown from the experience.
"I know that others who are going through a similar thing might not have this support network. There needs to be a change. Social workers can't just talk to the carer, they need to talk to the person directly. I just hope my experience helps people."
Describing the case, a Sussex Police spokesman said: "Sarah Somerset-How conspired with her husband's carer, George Webb to leave their victim bed-bound and malnourished while they took advantage of him for their own gains.
"Webb was originally hired as a live-in carer for Somerset-How's 40-year-old husband, who required round-the-clock care, in 2016.
"Over the next four years, Somerset-How's husband was physically and psychologically abused, left without sufficient food and drink and forced to live in squalid conditions.
"He was separated from his family, who reported the situation to the police in August 2020, after he revealed the horrific circumstances in which he was living.
"He was moved to safe accommodation while an investigation was launched.
"Texts from the defendants' mobile phones showed they had become involved in a sexual relationship and intentionally neglected their victim to take drugs and plan nights away."
Detective Constable Cheyne Garrett said: "Sarah Somerset-How and George Webb totally betrayed their innocent victim, who relied on them both for the most basic of human needs.
"The scale of their depravity was revealed thanks to the tenacity of a friend who alerted the victim's family.
"They acted quickly to report their concerns despite Somerset-How and Webb's efforts to isolate them.
"I would like to thank them for raising the alarm, and the victim in this case for supporting the investigation through to conviction under extremely challenging circumstances.
"No romantic relationship, friendship or working relationship should make you feel unsafe and isolated from friends and family.
"If you feel bullied, trapped, fearful, or someone is telling you that who you are isn't good enough, please ask for help."
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