"My Best Friend Was Murdered, and Her Husband Is in Jail: Could New Evidence Link Him to the Post Office Scandal?"

THE violent murder of well-liked sub-postmistress horrified those living the sleepy Yorkshire village of Melsonby.

An armed and masked robber had in her bed upstairs before coming down and demanding £16,000 in cash from the safe, her distraught husband, Robin, told police.

Robin Garbutt was convicted of beating his wife, Diana, to death with a metal bar in 2011Credit: Sky TV The village Post Office was sealed off as a crime scene following the 2010 killingCredit: North News and Pictures Diana’s best friend Christine Elliot believes Garbutt is innocentCredit: ©Sky UK Ltd

But just three weeks later, locals were in disbelief when genial Robin, who everyone thought loved his wife deeply, was arrested for her in 2010.

The case against him was built on circumstantial evidence that he killed her because he was ‘jealous’ over fears she was having an affair and worries of her discovering he had .

He was charged and eventually found guilty, in 2011, before being given a prison sentence of 20 years – but Robin Garbutt has always denied killing his wife and continues to do so behind bars.

In an exclusive interview, Diana’s best friend, Christine Elliot tells us why she is convinced of his innocence.

“Hand on heart, Robin wouldn’t do it,” she says. “That is not the man he is. He would never lay a finger on her.

“I have visited Robin in prison and he’s coping amazingly. He’s just putting every ounce of effort into the appeals, into research, into doing what he can for Di. He wants to find the person who did it.”

So far, three appeals have failed. But with financial fraud being a key part of his prosecution, might the real culprit be the

Evidence from the was used at the trial to show that money was missing.

And in the light of the scandal that saw the Post Office wrongly prosecuting 736 of their own staff for fraud before admitting faults in the system, Robin’s legal team are mounting a fourth appeal for his release.

Law academic Dr Mike Naughton, spearheading his defence, reasons: “Why it seems to be significant for Robin is because we see Horizon evidence as being one of the main, if not the main pieces of evidence, that was used to support the motive of why he murdered his wife.

Robin Garbutt maintained his innocence for 15 yearsCredit: PA:Press Association The prosecution alleged Garbutt was jealous after his wife set up an online dating profileCredit: Sky TV

“And it discredits the reliability of the entries which were relied on in the original trial.

“This case may be the most egregious miscarriage of justice stemming from the Post Office scandal.”

But the burning question remains: Has Robin Garbutt been a victim of Horizon or is he, as Diana’s mother Agnes insists, just trying to “jump on the Horizon bandwagon?”

Others, like Diana’s cousin Trevor Roberts, remain unsure.

Trevor began to have doubts about Robin’s innocence early on when he heard that the marriage was not all it appeared to be.

In court there was evidence of Diana being on an internet dating site. He was also surprised that Robin did not attend his wife’s funeral.

But without any hard evidence, he finds it hard to commit one way or another. He was in court every day during the trial and was still undecided by the end of it.

“During the court process you feel as if you are supposed to be in one camp or the other,” he says.

There was a look of utter horror on his face. I can still see it now. It will never leave me

Christine Elliot

“Obviously his family are persuaded that he is not guilty whereas Agnes was persuaded that he was guilty.

“If I was a juror I would have been one of the ones who says, ‘I don’t know,’ because I don’t think you are there to say, ‘He didn’t do it.’ You are there to say, ‘I’m sure he did’ and unless you can, he’s not guilty.”

‘Utter horror’

Robin met Diana in 1999 and they moved into where they bought the Post Office in March 2003 while planning their wedding.

The pair were instantly liked by the residents and neighbour Christine had an instant rapport with Diana, in particular.

“When they moved in, everyone wondered what they would be like and if they would get involved with the village,” says Christine.

“The Post Office was the hub of the community where people met and chatted to find out what was going on.

“Robin was very sociable and knew everyone who came to his shop and their order – what their newspaper was, things like that. He took time to get to know people and was, and is, a lovely guy.

“Di became a good friend of mine. We spent quite a lot of time together. She liked to go out. We socialised a lot and went away for weekends. We did all sorts together.

“I suppose we shared the same sense of humour and view on life. She was a bit happy-go-lucky, I guess.

Diana was killed in her bed back in 2010Credit: Sky TV Diana and Robin went through a ‘rough patch’ a year before the killingCredit: Ben Lack,CCollect

“She liked the nice things in life, going away for the weekend, spending time with Robin.

“A group of us had meals together, there was a lot of friendship, a lot of laughs, a lot of good times.”

So when armed police rushed to Melsonby on the morning of 23 March 2010, following Robin’s panicked call, it caused a stir.

“It was horrific,” recalls Christine. “I’d sent my kids to school, which was just down the road.

“I was still in my pyjamas and suddenly there was a lot of activity going on outside the window, cars and flashing lights.

“I dressed and went out but I couldn’t get down the main road to the shop and had to go the back way, and as I did so, Robin passed me in a police car.

“He was in the back seat and didn’t see me but there was a look of utter horror on his face. I can still see it now. It will never leave me.

I haven’t seen anything that says he did it

Mike Naughton

“Throughout the day we listened to the radio and watched TV and got trickles of news but we didn’t know what had happened for a long time.

“Then we heard that a woman had been killed and, later in the afternoon, the police came and told us that it was Di.

“I just remember dropping to the floor in disbelief and crying and saying, ‘No! This is not happening!’ How on earth do you even start to come to terms with that? She was one of my closest friends.”

‘Affair & missing hair’

On the evening of the murder, with the Post Office a crime scene, Robin went to stay with his sister Sallie and her husband, Mark, at their home in Kirby Misperton, some 60 miles away.

Three weeks later, the police arrived and arrested him for the murder of Diana, taking him away in handcuffs.

“It was the worst news ever,” says Christine. “It just did not ring true. It was unfathomable.”

Other revelations came to light during the course of the police investigation that residents found hard to believe.

On Diana’s laptop police found she had signed up to a dating website.

In court, it was suggested to Robin that it was a loveless marriage and that Diana was being unfaithful with several men, either directly or through the internet.

Residents in sleepy Melsonby, in Yorkshire, were horrified such a violent attack could happen where they livedCredit: ©Sky UK Ltd Garbutt’s lawyer insists evidence against him was ‘circumstantial’Credit: Handout

To which he replied: “In 2009, we had a bit of a rough patch. It happens sometimes, with couples. Diana said she might need some space. But I thought we were a loving couple. I miss her terribly.”

On the website Diana had said she was 41 and wanted to meet a man, aged 35 to 50. But, despite many messages to her, there was no sign of her having replied to anyone.

“Di confided in me quite a bit,” says Christine. “We would sit and have coffee and chat, as friends do.

“In terms of affairs, I didn’t know any of that. The dating website was just people messaging her or liking her picture.

“All I can think is that she kind of needed a bit of an ego boost. Maybe her self-esteem was struggling a little bit.

“I don’t know if Di did do all the things that came out, but even if she had, he’d have forgiven her.”

Turning to financial problems, the prosecutor told the jury that the Post Office and shop brought in a modest income but that Robin had debts of £30,000.

Teresa Bentley, Financial Investigator, North Yorkshire Police said: “I never came across any information that suggested there had been a robbery.”

On the night before the murder, Robin attempted to buy £850-worth of stock for the shop from a cash and carry.

It resulted in a refusal of the credit card. While he was out, the bank telephoned Diana to say her card had been refused.

There is no credible forensic evidence that suggests that Robin murdered Diana. It’s circumstantial evidence

Mike Naughton

The prosecution allege that adulterous relationships, unhappiness and financial problems created a row between them which erupted into violence when he hit her over the head with a blunt instrument, likely a metal bar.

Two days after the murder, a metal bar was found on a wall near the local garage. But Robin’s DNA was not on it.

Another man’s was – the policeman who handled it. Further blunders with vital evidence were made after hair that was not the colour of either Diana or Robin’s was found on the bed.

Had she struggled and pulled it out of her attacker? It was never examined because the lock went missing.

Suspicious timeline

Another key element that raised suspicion about Robin was his account of the timing on the day of the murder.

The pathologist said that Diana had died in the early hours of the morning between 2.30am and 4.30am.

This was based on the fish and chip meal they both ate the evening before and a calculation on the time of her death based on when her body stopped digesting the food.

In his police statement, Robin said he got up about 4am and opened the shop half an hour later to bring in the newspapers.

He waited for the time-locked safe to open at 8.30am and around that time he became aware of the armed robber who had already been upstairs and murdered Diana.

The paramedic who arrived after the emergency call, told Robin that Diana had rigor mortis and so had been dead for some time. He was heard to argue that she had not got rigor mortis and that her body was still warm.

Robin and Diana bought the Post Office back in 2003Credit: Sky TV It’s not believed Diana responded to anyone who messaged her dating profileCredit: Sky TV

Robin’s defence team continue to argue that there is not enough concrete evidence with which to find him guilty.

“As things stand, there is no credible forensic evidence that suggests that Robin murdered Diana. It’s circumstantial evidence,” says Mike Naughton.

“I haven’t seen anything that says he did it. I don’t know. But I’d like to know.”

Robin’s first application to appeal his conviction in 2012 was on the grounds that Post Office accounting records going back to 2004 supported the credibility of his evidence but while it was judged that they should have been made available at the time, the appeal was rejected.

Three years later they tried again, saying that the timing of Diana’s death could not be so specific because there were a number of variables such as the size of the meal and how much she ate.

But the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) concluded that death would have occurred at the very least an hour before the body was found and more likely several hours.

Another attempt was rejected in 2020, when they argued the police officer whose DNA was on the iron bar should not be excluded from enquiries.

The fourth application, citing faulty Horizon software, was submitted to the CCRC last year and Robin and his team are awaiting a decision to see if the case will finally be sent back to the Court of Appeal.

“I think the faulty Horizon software is a really strong case,” says Christine. “There have been so many people cleared of any wrongdoing.

“That, on top of all the flaws in the investigation and evidence… surely to goodness they can’t ignore it this time?”

Murder at the Post Office, a three-part documentary, is on Sky from 29 December