The wife of a disabled man in England has been arrested along with his caregiver after subjecting him to
“squalid conditions,”
abusing him, stealing his disability checks, and neglecting his needs for years, reports Insider.
Tom Somerset-How, 40, who is wheelchair-bound, partially blind, and has cerebral palsy, was rescued by authorities in 2020 from his home in the town of Chichester, reports reveal.
Authorities discovered that Somerset-How had been restricted to one room by his wife, Sarah, and caregiver, George Webb, with who she’d been having an affair. Somerset-How was reportedly found malnourished, weighing 98 pounds, and living in filthy conditions
“without sufficient food and drink for four years,”
reports state. He also hadn’t had his teeth cleaned for a year, per ITV News.
“Sarah Somerset-How, 49, conspired with her husband’s carer, 40-year-old George Webb, to leave their victim bedbound and malnourished while they took advantage of him for their own gains,”
said the police statement.
Text messages shown in court between the wife and her husband’s caregiver revealed the nature of their relationship.
“Get rid of him; go find yourself a man. I think you need to leave Tom and get your life back,”
Webb said in a text to Sarah. She also texted Webb messages like,
“Remember, we are just using him. He gets paid soon, so I will take money out of his account for weed.”
Sarah and Webb were found guilty of
“wilful neglect and holding a person in slavery or servitude”
on May 12, Sussex Police confirmed. Somerset-How is back in the care of his family and wants to
“campaign for legislative change to get more rigorous spot checks on carers regulated by local authorities,”
he expressed to the outlet.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
