Postmaster jailed for killing wife was convicted with faulty Horizon evidence that claimed motive was to cover up theft
A POSTMASTER jailed for killing his wife was convicted with faulty Horizon evidence.
Robin Garbutt, 57, has spent the last 12 years banged up after investigators suggested his motive for murdering postmistress Diana was to cover up theft.
A jury at the time heard Garbutt battered his partner to death with an iron bar above their Post Office in Melsonby, North Yorkshire.
Garbutt unleashed his fatal attack when he feared Diana was having an affair and was about to uncover the thousands of pounds he’d taken from the Post Office, it was said.
But Garbutt has maintained his innocence – claiming he is another victim of the Horizon scandal.
A total of 736 postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly convicted after an IT error suggested they had been stealing.
However, the faulty software made it look as though cash was missing from branches because it was unknowingly duplicating transactions.
During Garbutt’s trial, evidence put forward by the Post Office showed he was taking money to fund a lavish lifestyle.
According to the Telegraph, supporters of the lag suggest Horizon evidence should now be thrown out – rubbishing a large part of Garbutt’s motivation for killing Diana.
Dr Michael Naughton, a law academic at Bristol University who has studied the case, said the evidence used to convict him was “no longer reliable”.
He told the paper: “The prosecution used the Horizon evidence to support its claim that the motive for the murder was that Robin Garbutt was stealing money from the Post Office side of the business and he needed to kill his wife to cover it up.
“Horizon was used to show he was defrauding the Post Office. I don’t know if Robin Garbutt did or did not kill his wife, but I do know that the evidence that led to his conviction is no longer reliable and every aspect has been discredited.”
Garbutt told jurors armed robbers entered the property with a gun and attacked Diana telling him “don’t do anything stupid we’ve got your wife”.
But the time Diana died has always been contested as Garbutt said the robbery took place at 8.30am, while prosecutors said she was killed in the middle of the night.
Customers giving evidence also said the Post Office was open as normal on that morning Garbutt claimed to have been robbed.
Garbutt has taken his case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) three times over the years to get a retrial following news of the scandal.
In November 2022, the commission concluded that “figures from the Horizon system were not essential to his conviction for murder”.
Mr Justice Openshaw sentenced Garbutt to life in prison after hearing the same “ludicrous story from beginning to end”.
He said: “There was no struggle, she never awoke.
“He struck three savage blows, smashing her skull and causing her immediate death as clearly he intended.”
CCRC statement refusing Garbutt a retrial
“Much of Mr Garbutt’s application to the CCRC focused on the Post Office Horizon scandal, which has led to a number of fraud and theft convictions of former Post Office workers being overturned, many after referral by the CCRC.
“The CCRC decided that this argument could not assist Mr Garbutt, as figures from the Horizon system were not essential to his conviction for murder.
“Other issues concerning scientific evidence were also considered, and the CCRC has now made a final decision not to refer his case for an appeal.”
