Did dodgy Post Office software program see a person wrongly convicted of MURDER?
- Garbutt was convicted of killing his postmistress spouse however blames Horizon
A assassin who battered his spouse to dying utilizing an iron bar above their Post Office has claimed he’s harmless and was falsely convicted after investigator’s used proof collected from the defective Horizon IT system.
Former postmaster Robin Garbutt, 57, has spent the final 12 years behind bars after being convicted in 2011 of killing his postmistress spouse Diana above their retailer in Melsonby, North Yorkshire.
A jury dominated Garbutt was responsible for killing his spouse in March 2020 over fears that she was having an affair and worries that his theft of hundreds of kilos from the Post Office was about to be uncovered.
But Garbutt, and people near him, say his harmless and is yet one more sufferer to the Horizon scandal, which noticed 736 postmasters and postmistresses wrongly convicted.
The Post Office revealed proof in the course of the Crown Court case to indicate that Garbutt was stealing cash to fund a lavish life-style.
Former postmaster Robin Garbutt (proper) and his late spouse, Diana, in an undated photograph
The Melsonby Post Office, North Yorkshire, the place the physique of Diana Garbutt was present in 2010
During his trial Garbutt mentioned it was armed robbers who attacked his spouse, claiming the raider entered with a gun telling him ‘do not do something silly we have your spouse’, but a jury dominated
According to the Telegraph, Garbutt’s supporters declare with out the Post Office’s reliance on Horizon for proof, a big a part of his motivation for killing his spouse disappears.
Campaigners have additionally mentioned there was no forensic proof linking the killer to the homicide weapon, with the iron bar solely being discovered by police two days later, whereas proof over the time Mrs Garbutt died can also be contested.
While Garbutt mentioned the theft occurred at 8.30am, the prosecution mentioned the postmistress was killed in the course of the evening and opened the Post Office as regular serving clients.
This has since been disputed as no clients observed something odd in his behaviour.
Over the years Garbutt has taken his case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) thrice to try to drive a retrial.
Last November, nevertheless, the fee did conclude that ‘figures from the Horizon system weren’t important to his conviction for homicide’.
Appeal paperwork seen by the broadsheet revealed Horizon information was used to indicate a ‘sample of fraud’.
Dr Michael Naughton, a regulation tutorial at Bristol University who has studied the case and runs a web site referred to as CCRC, advised the paper the proof used to convict Garbutt was ‘now not dependable’.
He mentioned: ‘The prosecution used the Horizon proof to assist its declare that the motive for the homicide was that Robin Garbutt was stealing cash from the Post Office facet of the enterprise and he wanted to kill his spouse to cowl it up.
‘Horizon was used to indicate he was defrauding the Post Office. I do not know if Robin Garbutt did or didn’t kill his spouse, however I do know that the proof that led to his conviction is now not dependable and each facet has been discredited.’
Meanwhile, Garbutt’s brother-in-law Mark Stillborn mentioned he was ‘100 per cent certain Robin is harmless’.
‘Everybody who is aware of Robin is aware of he is harmless,’ he added. ‘Robin is the nicest particular person you’ll ever meet’.
Mr Stillborn mentioned the prosecution had relied on the shortfall to offer him the ‘motive to stage the theft’ and that Mrs Garbutt had been ‘doing the accounts’, which led him to kill her.
He added that in gentle of the Horizon scandal – which was been pushed into the general public eye as soon as once more following the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office – the proof might by no means have been put to the jury.
At his sentencing, Mr Justice Openshaw sentenced Garbutt to life in jail and advised him he would serve a minimal of 20 years.
‘There was no battle, she by no means awoke,’ the decide mentioned. ‘He struck three savage blows, smashing her cranium and inflicting her instant dying as clearly he meant.’
The decide added that Garbutt had advised the identical ‘ludicrous story from starting to finish’.
Outside courtroom, the sufferer’s mom Agnes Gaylor mentioned: ‘I’m not fascinated about Robin now. I’m not going to let Robin enter my head after right this moment.’
Robin (L) and Diana Garbutt (R). Diana was discovered lifeless on the Melsonby Post Office in 2010
Undated image reveals investigators passing tributes exterior the North Yorkshire Post Office
In a press release refusing to refer Garbutt’s case for retrial the CCRC mentioned in November 2022: ‘Much of Mr Garbutt’s utility to the CCRC centered on the Post Office Horizon scandal, which has led to quite a lot of fraud and theft convictions of former Post Office staff being overturned, many after referral by the CCRC.
‘The CCRC determined that this argument couldn’t help Mr Garbutt, as figures from the Horizon system weren’t important to his conviction for homicide.
‘Other points regarding scientific proof had been additionally thought of, and the CCRC has now made a remaining determination to not refer his case for an attraction.’
