Post Office Scandal: Jailed Postmaster Robin Garbutt Seeks Appeal with Horizon Victims' Support

Robin Garbutt, a postmaster convicted of murdering his wife Diana in 2010, is seeking an appeal of his conviction with the support of three victims of the Horizon scandal. His legal team argues that the Horizon scandal, which led to the wrongful conviction of 900 subpostmasters, has raised doubts about the motive used to jail him. Garbutt's supporters, including friends of his and victims of the Horizon scandal, claim that new evidence, including a dossier of new information, could prove his innocence.

Key Takeaways:

• Robin Garbutt, a 59-year-old postmaster, was convicted of murdering his wife Diana in 2010 and is seeking an appeal of his conviction.
• His legal team argues that the Horizon scandal has cast doubt on the motive used to jail him, as hundreds of other convictions based on Post Office evidence were found to be false.
• Garbutt's supporters, including Lee Castleton, Janet Skinner, and Seema Misra, victims of the Horizon scandal, have backed his appeal.
• The dossier of new evidence includes details of Garbutt's schedule on the day of the alleged robbery, which suggests that he would have had little time to commit the crime.
• Witnesses and customers reported that Garbutt was normal and composed from 4:30 am to 8:30 am, before finding his wife's body.
• A clump of hair found on Diana's pillow is also a key piece of evidence, as those who knew her say she would have resisted an attacker and could have pulled their hair out.
• Garbutt's sister, Sallie Wood, and his mother-in-law, Agnes Gaylor, have expressed skepticism about his appeal, with Gaylor believing that Garbutt is using the Horizon scandal to gain publicity.

Statistics:

• 900 subpostmasters were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to false evidence from the Post Office.
• Garbutt's case was based on the same flawed evidence, which has now been proven to be false.
• The time between the safe opening and the 999 call in Garbutt's case was 73 seconds.
• A clump of hair, which could not form part of the original trial as it had been lost, is now a key piece of evidence.
• Garbutt had debts of £30,000 on six credit cards at the time of his wife's murder.

Sources:

• "Post Office scandal: Jailed postmaster Robin Garbutt seeks appeal with Horizon victims' support" by Jeremy Armstrong in The Mirror