A quiet Yorkshire village was shattered by a brutal crime over a decade ago, and now a major new documentary series is reopening the case, probing disturbing links to one of Britain's biggest miscarriages of justice.
A Village Post Office Turned Crime Scene
For seven years, Diana Garbutt was a trusted figure running the Melonsby Post Office in the close-knit North Yorkshire village of Melsonby alongside her husband, Robin. That all ended in horror on a day in March 2010, when Robin Garbutt frantically dialled 999. He reported finding his wife beaten and dying in the flat they shared above the post office, claiming a violent robbery had gone terribly wrong.
Yet, just three weeks later, the narrative dramatically shifted. Police arrested Robin himself, charging him with the murder of his wife. Prosecutors at his 2011 trial painted a picture of a marriage in deep crisis, hidden behind a happy facade. They argued that £16,000 had gone missing from the post office safe and that when Diana confronted Robin about it, he killed her. Robin Garbutt was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The Shadow of the Horizon Scandal
In the 14 years since his conviction, Robin Garbutt has consistently maintained his innocence, launching three unsuccessful appeals. Now, a crucial element of the case has come under intense scrutiny. A central plank of the prosecution's financial evidence relied on data from the Post Office's Horizon IT system.
This is the same system now at the heart of the national Post Office scandal, which led to the wrongful convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters for theft and fraud based on faulty data. This connection forms a pivotal part of the new investigation, with Garbutt's legal team once again fighting to clear his name.
Re-examining the Evidence: A Documentary Probe
Sky's new three-part true crime series, Murder at the Post Office, directed by Louise Malkinson, meticulously re-examines every detail. The synopsis poses the central, gripping question: "is Robin Garbutt a cold-blooded killer, or a victim of the largest miscarriage of justice in British history?"
The documentary features voices from both sides of the debate, from those convinced of a wrongful conviction to others who remain unsure. Hayley Reynolds, Head of Documentary Commissioning at Sky, described the series as a "forensic piece of storytelling" that sensitively draws on multiple perspectives to confront whether true justice was achieved.
Suzanne Lavery of Lightbox Studios, which produced the series, stated their aim was to approach Diana's case with care while examining the unresolved questions. She emphasised that with the conviction "shaped in part by the now-discredited Horizon system, it felt essential to look again at what happened."
Murder at the Post Office will air on Sky and streaming service NOW on 29 December 2025, forcing a fresh look at a village tragedy entangled with a national scandal.
