January 13th 2024.
Robin Garbutt, 57, has been imprisoned for 12 years after being found guilty of killing his wife, Diana. He was the postmaster of a small village post office in North Yorkshire, where the couple lived and worked together. However, Garbutt maintains his innocence and believes he was wrongfully convicted due to evidence collected from the faulty Horizon IT system.
There are many others who share this belief and are fighting for his release. They argue that Garbutt is just one of many postmasters and postmistresses who were falsely accused and convicted due to the notorious Horizon scandal. They claim that a key piece of evidence used against Garbutt was the supposed discovery of his embezzlement of thousands of pounds from the post office. However, if this evidence, which was collected using the defective system, is no longer valid, then his motive for killing his wife also disappears.
During his trial, the prosecution argued that Garbutt killed his wife, Diana, because she was about to uncover his theft. The judge even stated this as fact in his summing up to the jury. However, documents from Garbutt's appeal show that this evidence was gathered using the Horizon system. His supporters also point out that some of the Post Office investigators who testified against him have also been involved in other unsafe convictions for theft and fraud.
Despite seeking a retrial three times in the past 12 years, Garbutt's latest application was denied in November 2022. The Criminal Cases Review Commission concluded that the evidence from the Horizon system was not crucial to his conviction for murder. This decision has left Garbutt and his supporters frustrated and angry.
Garbutt's wife, Diana, was found dead in their living quarters above the post office on March 23, 2010. She had been brutally killed by three blows to the head with a rusty iron bar. Garbutt maintains that he was also attacked by a balaclava-clad intruder who forced him to hand over £16,000 from the safe. However, there was no forensic evidence linking Garbutt to the crime scene, and his clothes were free of blood and DNA.
One of the main points of contention in this case is the time of Diana's death. Jurors were told that she died between 2:30 am and 4:30 am, which was before the post office's safe could be opened at 8:30 am. This seemed to contradict Garbutt's story of a robbery gone wrong. However, an expert hired by Garbutt's legal team later concluded that the time of death could have been much later, possibly even after 6:45 am. This would have made it impossible for Garbutt to have committed the murder, as there was a stream of customers coming in and out of the post office from 5:15 am to 8:30 am.
Despite this evidence, Garbutt was convicted of murder and has been behind bars for the past 12 years. His supporters argue that this is a grave miscarriage of justice and that he deserves a fair retrial. They believe that the evidence used against him has been discredited and is no longer reliable. Meanwhile, the CCRC has refused to refer his case for an appeal, stating that the evidence from the Horizon system was not essential to his conviction. This decision has only added to the frustration and disappointment of Garbutt and his supporters.
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