Robin Garbutt, a former sub-postmaster who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, is seeking a fresh appeal of his conviction. Garbutt claims that new evidence from the Post Office Inquiry sheds new light on his case, and his lawyers have applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to have his case sent back to the Court of Appeal. Former Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake MP has expressed his support for a fresh review of Garbutt’s case.
Diana Garbutt was found dead in the flat above the post office owned by herself and her husband in the village of Melsonby, North Yorkshire in 2010. Robin claimed that the couple were victims of an armed robbery but the jury found his claims to be unconvincing. The prosecution alleged that Garbutt had staged the robbery and had been stealing money from his branch. They further argued that Garbutt killed Diana to cover up his crimes, as he was worried about being caught. While there was no physical evidence linking Garbutt to the crime, data from the Horizon IT system and the Post Office helped in his conviction.
Garbutt’s lawyers have argued that the evidence related to the Horizon system cannot be trusted given what has been uncovered by the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal. Garbutt’s supporters assert that he was never given a fair trial, since discrepancies have come to light that cast doubt on his guilt. Hollinrake has said that he supports Garbutt’s case by calling for a fair review of the evidence to determine whether or not he received a fair hearing in the justice system.
Garbutt has applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission three times before, but has failed in all attempts to get his case back to the Court of Appeal. At his last attempt in 2021, his legal team had argued that the lack of knowledge about the Horizon system supported a fresh appeal. However, the watchdog dismissed their plea, claiming that the flaws in the Horizon system did not affect the reliability of the data used by the prosecution during Garbutt’s trial. Despite this, Garbutt’s supporters remain optimistic that a fresh review of his case will finally provide him with the breakthrough he craves
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