Wife ‘enslaved’ her disabled husband while sleeping with his carer

A wife used her disabled husband as a “cash cow” while she had an affair with his carer and spent his money on DJ equipment and lingerie, a court was told.

Over a 10 year period, Sarah Somerset-How and carer George Webb allegedly “enslaved” her husband Tom, confining him to his bed, as they spent his money while treating him “like a piece of property”.

The 40-year-old, an “intelligent” history graduate with cerebral palsy, was left as a “prisoner in his own home”, a jury was told.

The pair allegedly left wheelchair-bound Mr Somerset How – who is almost blind and needs 24-hour care – in bed for 90 per cent of the time, allowed him a shower once a week and went for a whole year without brushing his teeth.

For food he would be left with only a packet of crisps and a sandwich, the court heard, while the pair carried out their plan to “ostracise” him from his family.

The jury was told that Mr Somerset-How eventually managed to raise the alarm about his treatment with a friend who 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.

Mrs Somerset-How, 49, and Mr Webb, 50, are now on trial at Portsmouth Crown Court, charged with holding a person in slavery, fraud, theft and ill-treatment by a care worker.

Live-in-carer Mr Webb faces an additional charge of aggravated bodily harm against Mr Somerset-How after an incident where he is accused of hitting him with a shoe.

Mrs Somerset-How and Mr Webb deny the charges.

Paul Cavin KC, prosecuting, said Mr Somerset-How told the police that “the level of care they gave to him was barely existent” and “it was the bare minimum to ensure he was alive”.

Mr Cavin said the couple’s neglect of Mr Somerset How was deliberate.

“He was not allowed to call people without one of them being present. He was their cash cow,” he said.

The court heard that Mr Somerset-How met his wife in 2008 through Gina Zeelie, a friend who worked with Mrs Somerset-How.

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.

Mr Webb, working for 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 Tom at a rate of £4,000 a month. Over the next four months, the alleged ill treatment worsened.

At work, Mrs Somerset-How told colleagues that she and Mr Webb would have sex in the sitting room after her husband had gone to bed.

Mr Cavin said: “On one occasion, [Tom] soiled the bed, and Webb brought him to the shower and sprayed him in the face with it, calling him dirty and scummy, which he said felt like he was being suffocated.

He added: “He became a prisoner in his own home. He was entirely dependent on his abusers to stay alive.”

Arranging an ‘extraction date’

Eventually, in July 2020, Mr Somerset-How told Ms Zeelie about the alleged abuse.

On August 15, the court was told that Mr Somerset-How confirmed to social services he was being ill treated and an “extraction date” was agreed on for five days later.

Police officers, social services and family members all turned up and Mrs Somerset-How and Mr Webb were arrested.

Messages on their phones read to the court saw Mr Webb and Mrs Somerset-How call each other “darling” and “babe” while referring to her husband as a “dickhead” and his family as “fucking c---s”.

The trial, expected to last four weeks, continues.