Holby City star’s brother Tom Somerset-How breaks silence after being enslaved by wife and trapped in squalor
THE brother of a Holby City star has broken his silence after being enslaved by his wife as she had an affair with his carer in front of him.
Tom Somerset-How, 40, was kept in squalor as other half Sarah and live-in carer George Webb ransacked his savings to fund their sex lives.
The duo also cut off Tom – brother of Kate Somerset-Holmes – from his family and starved him on a diet of crisps until he was just 6st 10lbs.
Tom, who has cerebral palsy and needs 24 hour care, told ITV: “I wanted to go to sleep and not wake up so that it would finish, because at the time I didn’t see a way out.
“I was literally surviving week by week, day by day.”
Earlier this month, Somerset-How and Webb were found guilty of holding a person in slavery of servitude, after a four-week trial at Portsmouth crown court – the first ever case of its kind.
And Tom described the moment he heard the guilty verdicts at Portsmouth Crown Court, telling the Daily Mail: “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 court heard how Tom, an intelligent history graduate from a wealthy family, was kept in bed for 90 per cent of the time and “lived like a dog”.
He was only allowed to shower once a week and left with just crisps and a sandwich for food.
Tom’s ordeal ended when sister Kate managed to “ambush” Webb to gain access to her brother inside the “house of hell” in Chichester, West Sussex.
The actress – who also appeared in Silent Witness – discovered her brother “disorientated and very, very thin” and his teeth hadn’t been brushed for a year.
Giving evidence, Kate added: “Tom smelt terrible, like he hadn’t been washed in weeks.
“Tom was very, very thin. His nails were long, and his hair was greasy. He hadn’t been shaved in weeks.”
Jurors also heard how Tom was used as a “cash cow”, with the pair spending his inheritance and buying themselves DJ equipment.
In one vile exchange, “Deceitful and adulterous” Somerset-How messaged Webb about taking money from her husband’s account, remarking: “Remember, we are just using him.”
Webb also texted: “Get rid of him. Go find yourself a man. I think you need to leave Tom and get your life back.”
Speaking to ITV on Tuesday, Tom added: “To drain me, not just financially, but just to break me down to nothing, and to leave me behind.
“The fact that between them they were being so blatant when I was in the environment, is just stunning.”
Giving evidence, Tom said: “They would go away together on weekends, and I would be left alone with a bottle of squash for up to 12 hours.
“I would have a urine bottle which wouldn’t be emptied until Sarah got home.
“There were multiple times when I just couldn’t hold it. There were days when I had to stay there in it until Sarah came home to sort me out.”
Somerset-How – , an executive assistant who has worked for accountancy firm KPMG and lawyers Irwin Mitchell – admitted to the affair with Webb and said he was her “rock” and they had grown “closer than we should have”.
But she denied a long-running relationship, saying the affair that began shortly after they first met fizzled out before rekindling briefly three years later.
When asked about text messages between her and Webb about her underwear, she told the court: “Just because I had a thong it doesn’t mean I was having sex.”
However, both were cleared of charges relating to alleged ill treatment before 2017.
Webb was also found guilty of ABH against Mr Somerset-How after hitting him with a shoe.
Webb was also convicted of ill-treatment by a care worker while Somerset-How was convicted of aiding and abetting him from 2017 to 2020.
The pair will be sentenced at a later date.