Wheelchair-bound Chichester man used as 'cash cow' by scheming wife and her lover - 'Deliberate exploitation and effective enslavement'

Sarah Somerset-How, along with her lover George Webb, allegedly 'enslaved' her husband Tom over a ten year period in Chichester – barely keeping him alive as they spent his money.

While they bought themselves lingerie and DJ equipment with cash he had been given by relatives, the 40 year old, with cerebral palsy, was left as a 'prisoner in his own home', a jury was told.

Paul Cavin KC, prosecuting, said: "These offences were a deliberate exploitation and effective enslavement of Tom.

"Tom was born with cerebral palsy and is badly affected by it. He is wheelchair-bound and has required 24-hour care and assistance with everything since his birth.

"His eyesight is almost to the point of blindness. He is a highly intelligent man with a degree. The defendants treated him like a piece of property instead of a person they should have cared for."

The pair were accused of leaving wheelchair-bound Mr Somerset How in bed for 90 per cent of the time and only allowed him a shower once a week – while the pair carried out their plan to 'ostracise' him from his family.

Wheelchair-bound Tom told jurors he was left stranded as his wife and carer left him on his own, shutting the curtains 'to stop people from seeing in'.

The jury was told that eventually Mr Somerset-How managed to raise the alarm about how he was being treated 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 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 Webb faces an additional charge of ABH against Mr Somerset-How after an incident where is he accused of hitting him with a shoe.

The court heard the alleged offences took place between January 2010 and December 2020, when Mrs Somerset-How began her affair with Mr Webb.

Mr Cavin 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'.

"He was left with just a sandwich and a packet of crisps," he said.

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

"This was all for a reason, not for lack of skills," he said. "In 2010, the defendant commenced an affair and thought to conceal it from him. But he was vital to their relationship – he provided them with a source of income.

"Any divorce would have brought all that to an end. They sought to isolate him from friends and family.

"He was not allowed to call people without one of them being present. He was their cash cow. They plundered his finances, spending £12,000 of his inheritance."

The court heard 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 and had 24-hour care paid for by social services during the week, with his wife providing weekend cover.

Mr Webb, working for a healthcare agency, 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.

Mr Cavin said: "For the first six weeks, it was fine, but this began to decline rapidly from then. He was left in bed for up to nine hours at a time with only a urine bottle and a packet of crisps.

"Tom noticed the defendants were spending a lot of time together and began to suspect they were having an affair. He was right to suspect that.

"Tom gave an estimate that he spent nearly 90 per cent of the next four years in bed. Every few months, he was allowed to see his mother.

"He went weeks without showering and almost a year without brushing his teeth."

Mr Cavin said that, 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.

Tom said: "I had a bowel accident and needed to be showered. George said it was horrible and 'you are disgusting' and that he didn't get paid enough for this.

"I don't know what I said to him but he held the shower over my face. I was struggling and gasping.

"[Sarah] said he had already apologised and explained. I told her he had breached his contract multiple times. She said we had no other choice, we couldn't do anything."

Mr Cavin said Tom was ‘neglected’ and ‘abused’, adding: “He was treated like a piece of property. Every aspect of his life was controlled. His remaining independence he had was taken away from him by the defendants.

"He couldn't dismiss his carer who was abusing him, and his wife wouldn't intervene or help him because she was having an affair.

"He became a prisoner in his own home. He was entirely dependent on his abusers to stay alive.

"Tom received money from family members, which was taken by the defendants without his consent.

"This was spent on DJ equipment, as Mr Webb would DJ as a hobby, lingerie and paying off credit cards. Mr Webb's salary payments were over and above."

When asked by prosecutor Paul Cavin KC why he didn't complain to Webb's agency, he said 'afterwards I would be barraged by abuse'.

Eventually, in July 2020, Mr Somerset-How told Ms Zeelie about the alleged abuse. She urged him to speak to his family, but he refused, worried that he might come to harm.

Mr Cavin said: "She was so disturbed that she connected with his parents on Facebook to tell them. In August, they hatched a plan to tell Tom that his mother wanted to speak to him.

"Two days later, Tom's mother, Helen, told Gina she had told social services. This was an operation that had the marks of extracting someone as a hostage.

"They had mundane conversations on Facebook to distract Sarah."

The court heard his mother then made an unexpected visit to the house, where Mr Webb was aggressive and was shouting that they needed notice if she was visiting.

On August 15, the court heard 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 Webb were arrested.

Abusive text messages were discovered and, in one message, Mrs Somerset-How said she 'just wanted to slap him [Tom]' and in another she said 'the fact that he breathes drives me nuts'.

She also sent a text to Webb a message that read 'all that keeps me going is our five-year plan'.

Concluding his opening, Mr Cavin said of Mr Somerset-How: "He became a victim of modern slavery, we argue. He was effectively imprisoned in his own home."

Mrs Somerset-How and Webb deny the charges.

The trial - expected to last four weeks - continues.

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