Robin Garbutt - A life destroyed

This is Robin Garbutt a man wrongly convicted of his wife's murder in 2011

The man pictured at the top of this report is described by his family and friends as a lovable, trusted, fun loving & genuine man who until being wrongly convicted of his wife's murder ran his own business in the quiet North Yorkshire village of Melsonay.

Robin rang the police on 999 on the morning of March 23rd 2010 to say that his wife had been attacked by robbers. The police arrived to find Diana Garbutt had been murdered by being bludgeoned with a metal bar.

Robin was taken to the police station and spent until 10pm that night with them going over everything and as he believed helping them to piece together the details of the robbery and his wife's murder.

The family say that Robin then spent 3 weeks with them and was visited on most days by liaison officers from the police so he felt he was being taken care of after such a terrible time, then it all changed. . .

Three weeks after the whole dreadful horror began the police arrested Robin at 0730 and carted him away for his wife Diana's murder. It took 3 days of questioning before the police even allowed the family to take Robin some clean clothes and to see him very briefly. 

One of the flimsy items of evidence that the police relied upon in the early days of the 'enquiries' was a pair of boxer shorts that had been found in a dustbin with blood on them. Eventually the police had to concede and accept that Robin had told them the truth from the outset and the boxers were in fact confirmed as being out of a neighbour's dustbin. Unfortunately the information came somewhat too late as Robin had been remanded in custody and was in prison,

Ahttps://youtu.be/1FOJmgKyrxw

After a pre-trial hearing Robin was granted bail and returned home until his trial began in March 2011, obviously he presumed that the trial would show that he did not harm his wife and he would be found 'not guilty', sadly that did not happen.

The police had got their man and that was that after two and a half days of deliberation the jury returned a 10 - 2 verdict of guilty against Robin and he was convicted of his wife's murder. The wife whom Robin loved with all of his heart had been murdered and he was starting a 20 year prison sentence for a crime that he didn't commit. 

The media try to paint a very different picture of Robin and of his marriage to Diana but the family bear out the true story and one that I am prepared to believe over the gutter press. Diana Garbutt had re-trained as a post mistress when her and Robin bought the shop and she very much ran the post office side of the business. They both worked hard and despite maybe having some financial struggles, like many businesses of the current times they were happy and building a lovely customer base.

The property that was once the Melsonay village post office, North Yorkshire where Diana was murdered in a robbery 

There are so many discrepancies in the evidence that was used to convict Robin Garbutt of murder, for example; The prosecution say that Diana was murdered by 0430 yet a customer that visited the shop on that fateful morning clearly stated that at around 0645 he heard a female voice call from the family quarters of the shop, clearly calling "Robin" and Robin replied "Yes Di, in a minute". The police clearly dismissed this evidence as their forensic say Diana was already dead by that time, the simple question is "Couldn't the forensics have been mistaken"?

The witnesses statement was watertight as he worked full time and he knew that it was one of just two days that he took off from work as 'paid holiday' in order to do work to help the environment. As previously said the police clearly & intentionally chose to ignore the statement as it did not fit with their version of events and would have meant that they would need to look elsewhere for a suspect for Diana Garbutt's murder.

The late Diana Garbutt, murdered in her bedroom in 2010

There are reports of a clump of hair being found on the pillow next to a bloodied hand print from Diana, the hair was NOT from Diana or from Robin and so obviously could have belonged to the murder suspect and DNA from it would have almost certainly have proved that Robin was not the killer. Conveniently the clump of hair was 'lost' by North Yorkshire Police. There is also unidentified DNA on the pillow so this could well be that of the person to whom the clump of hair belonged and indeed committed the murder.

The murder weapon is believed to be a hollow metal bar which was found on the wall of the local garage on 25th March 2010, interestingly the police officer's report of such an important finding was not filed until 12th October 2010, why such a lengthy delay in reporting a murder weapon?? The weapon was found within three days of the murder so why not lodge a report straight away??

Even more interesting is that the bar did not contain any DNA belonging to Robin Garbutt, neither did it contain DNA from any murder suspect. In fact the only DNA found on the weapon was that of Diana and that of a police officer, so was this in fact even the weapon used to commit the atrocity?? I know a twitter contact of mine has recently reviewed this case and I hope that maybe he will either commit with thoughts surrounding the matter here or he may provide me with an update at a later stage.

In the meantime please share this blog, comment below and see the website where you can see full details of Robin's case and sign the e-petition.

www.robingarbuttofficial.com

Thank you for taking the time to read this please help by spreading the word via social media

Here are just a few thoughts of the author after due consideration of evidence. . .

Evidence says that Robin & Diana were booked to travel on holiday to USA to renew their marriage vows just a few days after the murder, so how is it possible for the prosecution to rely on circumstantial evidence that their marriage was unhappy or indeed that Diana had had affairs?

Witnesses from the close knit village admitted that if the local post mistress had been having a serious affair the village would know, yet they didn't

There had been a previous robbery at the post office on 17th March 2009, as far as we are aware no one was convicted of it so, it is perfectly possible that almost exactly one year later the same robbers could have returned.

The police say that is unlikely that robbers would have gone into the residential quarters of the shop but, there was another safe upstairs that the robbers may have known about and would not have known it was not used as the couple did not have the keys.

The financial troubles motive was dismissed after a post office audit which confirmed that there was no suggestion of any thefts or discrepancies, in fact the business was doing very well.

Even Justice Openshaw said: "The police's stewardship of the crime scene displayed a considerable lack of professionalism"

Search for Linda Razzell

Police have recently carried out a search of a field close to Swindon and close to where missing Linda Razzell was last seen some 17 years ago

Picture courtesy of The Guardian

Police sealed off an area of a field close to Pentylands lane, Highworth after receiving an apparent tip off from a member of the public.

Despite extensive searching including the use of police dogs the authorities reported on 28th February 2019 that the search was complete and "nothing of significant interest" was found.

Linda disappeared on her way to work on 19th March 2002 and has never been since, her husband was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison on 14th November 2003, he has maintained his innocence ever since.

Missing Linda Razzell Vanished in 2002 (picture from Wiltshire Police)

There is a great deal more to this story, watch out for more on this including a blog specifically looking at convictions for murder without a body.

The supporters of Glynn Razzell are offering a reward of £5,000 (GBP) to any persons who can prove to the British Police that Linda is alive and well, or was alive and well at any time after 19th March 2002 (Contradicting The Crown's version of events. If your evidence is substantiated, the rewrd will be payable upon the release of Glyn Razzell.

Please feel free to share, follow and comment below

A story of corruption at its worst

Please have a look at this website I will be following up with a full blog soon.
Please like, follow and comment

http://live-die-lowestoft.com/

Bedford Prison riot updates

https://shadowunicorn19.blogspot.com/2019/02/prison-riot-bedford-update.html

Sarah's Law: Public Ignorance

Having just read some of the letters in this month's Inside Time newspaper I felt a blog would help some understand how things like Sarah's Law works.

Firstly a little background. . .

On July 1st 2000 an 8 year old girl named Sarah Payne was abducted and murdered by Roy Whiting. 

Sarah vanished from a corn field in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex. Her body was discovered in a field near Pulborough, approximately 15 miles from where she was abducted.

As a result of this dreadful crime in Sarah's parents and The News of The World spearheaded a campaign to make it possible for concerned parents can enquire about a named person whom they suspect may be asexual offender.

If the person in question is subject to the UK sex offenders register then in certain circumstances a parent or guardian may be told. However details of the person's convictions will not be shared by the authorities.

So I turn to my reason for writing; that is that back in December a man wrote to Inside Time suggesting that in fact all sex offenders details should be made public. Of course such action would be entirely stupid and somewhat ridiculous. 

There are more than enough people homeless and living on the streets as it is and this would of course be made worse if sex offenders had nowhere to live in safety upon release from prison or indeed whilst serving community sentences.

I do appreciate that sexual offences particularly against children are hard to swallow and I do fully believe in the some sort of control of convicted offenders, but it is common sense to realise that not all of those convicted have actually committed the offence for which they were sentenced. 

Yes there are things that a sex offender can do in order to settle back in to everyday life including seeking a change of name by deed poll and of course relocating to a new area where he or she is not known. This can then be a real worry to parents and families, but remember NO matter how angry and upset you are by a person's offending it would not be safe to disclose convictions openly in public. 

"But the dirty wrong-un deserves it" some will say, that's not the point of this blog. If all convicted sex offenders details were released in to the public domain there would be violence and vigilantism on the streets, not only the offender would be in danger but other members of the public, the offenders family and indeed the police would be 
at risk of harm.

Parolees would not be able to settle anywhere and there would just be mayhem. Those that need to know such as the police and local authorities have the information and it is their duty to protect the public.

To come back to my original point lets remember that there are men and women on the UK sex offenders register that have not committed the crimes that have caused them to be on there. Some of you will rant at me and accuse me of somehow supporting sex offenders but that is NOT even close to the truth. 

I am a campaigner against miscarriages of justice and spend a lot of my spare time fighting against injustice. I do not believe that it is right for names of any convicted person, regardless of their offence to be banded about the country. I do not want to see innocent people injured or worse still dead because someone's released their details to the wrong person.

To be honest I don't give a monkey's fart whether you are against sex offenders, whether you are one i am merely saying what I feel is right and want to see everyone kept safe

Say no to injustice

Time to stop: Miscarriages of justice

I am becoming more and more angry about the amount of injustice and failings of The British Justice System. Innocent lives are being torn apart more every day by the deliberate way that courts are misled, evidence tampered with and stories plucked from the air to intentionally destroy people's lives.

Stop Injustice and do it NOW!!

I seem to get to know more and more people that are struggling with life either because of a wrongful conviction that they have experienced themselves or that a member of their family has suffered.

I am not only referring to the high profile cases such as The Cardiff Newsagent Three

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/what-its-like-wrongly-convicted-14930961

or The Guildford Four

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29429010

Whilst these are just two of the famous cases that have come to light where people have been wrongly convicted and appeals won, there are many that are rotting in jail tonight and every night hurting, their lives in bits because of lies and corruption.

I speak to people on social media, through prison communication and in public, I hear more and more cases whereby injustice has been done. My partner is friends with a lady who's husband was arrested, charged and ultimately convicted of rape, he could not possibly have committed the offence as he was with his wife at the alleged time. His so called "victim" has since been overheard in public and seen on social media admitting she lied!! 

Has the man's conviction been appealed?? YES 

Was he acquitted?? NO

Why?? The "victim" was not cross examined at the appeal court, in fact the case was not even considered for re-trial. Tonight the man in question's little girl will go to bed crying for her daddy, devastated because he is not home. 

Why did the appeal not re-examine the evidence?? 

The answer is quite simple: The Criminal compensation department at The Ministry of Justice has paid out a nice fat £11,000 compensation to the victim, they don't want to have to pay yet more to compensate the true victim in the case, the man who sits in his prison cell broken, his life in tatters.

Yes I have highlighted a sexual offence case, No the man did NOT do the crime. Do I apologise for reporting on sexual crime?? Do I hell!! There are many people wrongly convicted of sexual offences and it is sadly one of the easiest crimes to get a conviction for. 

Did you know that if you contact the police now, report that one of your family or friends sexually assaulted you when you were young you will be believed, the accused will be arrested, his /her name will be banded over the media and he/ she will probably end up in prison for a crime never committed. 

"It's not as easy as that Andrew, they'd need evidence" I hear you saying, OK so let me ask you this. . . "What hard evidence can you present of a crime alleged to have happened 30 years ago"?? 

The answer is "Absolutely nothing concrete, only hearsay and circumstantial evidence". 

Nonetheless your allegation will most likely be believed and a conviction will result.

I know someone is going to accuse me of somehow supporting sexual offending, well I am sorry you're wrong. I am merely highlighting just how easy it is to see someone in prison for a crime they did not commit.

In another case: I recently met a man who was charged with sexual assaults dating back somewhere ranging from 28 - 35 years, the so called "victims" had been the accused's employees for a number of years and after discovering that they had been helping themselves to his takings the man in question had dismissed them both.

Some six months after the two were dismissed the accused was asleep in bed at 0400 hours, when his front door was caved in, his property torn apart and he was subsequently arrested. Allegations were laid before the 65 year old accused and he gave his story to police. 

In the "victim's" evidence two places in their area were named as places where the accused was said to have taken them for evenings out (when they were teenagers) and thus molested / assaulted them. It was pointed out by the accused's solicitor and the accused that the two places were in fact not built at the time that the alleged crimes took place, however a 65 year old male was convicted on 8 charges of sexual assault and handed a 12 year prison sentence. 

Was the evidence raised that the buildings were not in existence at the time of the alleged crimes taking place?? Yes it was.
How did the prosecution get the conviction?? 
They suggested that due to the trauma of holding such terrible acts of abuse in for so long the victims had become confused about the locations.

I say the whole case was fabricated in order to seek out revenge upon the old man, in fact one of the complainants has since confessed that he lied but the court of appeal upheld the conviction because the CPS said that they believed the victim had been pressured into trying to withdraw his allegations. 

The old man will be at least 73 years old when he is released and will be on licence with the probation service until he is 79 this just is not right.

In closing and just to show I'm not a sex offending (nonce) supporter lets finish with a brief look at Jeremy Bamber, convicted five murders he could not have possibly committed.

Jeremy allegedly murdered his adoptive parents, his sister and her two children in a farm house in Tolleshunt D'arcy, Essex on the night of 6th August 1985. The crimes were actually committed by a schizophrenic Sheila Caffell, Jeremy's sister when she went into an episode / breakdown with a shotgun in her hands. 

Jeremy's family and the prosecution argued that he had every reason to commit the crimes as he would benefit from the will of his adoptive parents Nevill and June Bamber. The case has been back to the appeal courts twice and will soon be going again. I have files of evidence clearly showing Jeremy's innocence so why has he not been acquitted and released from prison?

The simple answer is that he has served 33 years in prison and the police have "had their man" all this time. There have been books and documentaries made about the case, so can you imagine the cost of compensating Jeremy, to say nothing of the loss of revenue from books, TV programmes and documentaries and of course more than anything the shame that would be brought upon Essex Police if Jeremy Bamber was acquitted and allowed to walk free from prison? 

I'll leave it there for this one; the point I am making is that miscarriages of justice are now all too common in our British Justice System. Is it any wonder that our prisons are at breaking point, overcrowded and morale at it's lowest since the 1980s when there are men and women falling asleep tonight in prison cells when in fact they should be at home with their loved ones.

Please don't ignore this; write to your MP and demand that miscarriages of justice are debated in parliament before the entire country has a conviction. 

My biggest ask in this blog is: Please don't sit there and say "Oh that will never happen to me", I assure you that you could be next. . . How do I know? Because I thought the same thing when I read about miscarriages of justice 11 years ago.

Take care and stay safe my friends

Riot at Bedford Prison

Bedford Prison Riot

16th February 2019

A specialist team of highly trained officers were called to deal with a riot at HMP Bedford at around 1500 hours with support from Bedfordshire Police.

Emergency vehicles lined up across the front of the prison during Saturday afternoon and a prisoner transport van was turned away just after 1700 hours

Bedford prison is in a very, very bad state of repair internally and a specialist team of pest controllers have not been able to put a stop to a massive infestation of rats within the site. Notices have been put on doors saying "Please keep closed to stop rats getting onto the wings".

The prisoners morale within the prison is very low and officers have reported being afraid to go to work due to the risk of violent attacks on staff on a daily basis.

The Prison service issued a media statement saying that trouble flared up at around 1435 hours on Saturday 16th February and Tornado specialist riot team were called in. The unrest was apparently contained on one wing of the prison and no staff were reported injured. 

The Ministry of Justice reported that everything was settled and peaceful by 2100 hours, however we were still outside the prison at 2230 hours and two mini coaches, a full sized coach and police cars were still present. Dogs could be heard barking and men were shouting behind the wall of the prison at the Balsall Street West end of the establishment at 2235 hours.

Transport mini coaches waiting outside Bedford Prison at 2230 on Saturday night presumably to transport Tornado officers after they had dealt with the disturbances within the prison.

No doubt the incident, just like many others has clearly been played down by The Ministry of Justice in order to cover the terrible state of our prisons. There are men in that prison who are someone's dads, husbands and sons, there are also staff working there that need to feel safe in their duties and The Ministry of Justice MUST address this as a matter of urgency!!

It is all well and good for The Prison Service to say "anyone instigating trouble like this will be punished in the most severe manner" but, we need to bring peace within establishments such as Bedford and make conditions for the prisoners held there better. 

Heavy police presence outside Bedford Prison on Saturday night during the disturbance

Some of you will say things like "They committed crime they deserve it" but that is not true. There are many in the prisons that are there because they suffer from mental health conditions and have suffered abuse from parents, bullies, etc. The punishment is the loss of liberty NOT being treated worse than an animal once incarcerated and we need to recognise that and respect it.

I can tell you from personal experience that since the prison estates went smoke free and reduced the amount of hours that prisoners were actively involved in work and time out of cell things have progressively deteriorated. The whole prison estate is like a tinder box waiting to go up and it only takes 2 or 3 establishments to go off at the same time and the Tornado teams won't be able to handle it to bring things back under control. If the prison service do not act soon there will be loss of life and dangerous people escaping.

I urge anyone reading this to write to your local MP and demand that he/she get behind sorting out the dreadful and dangerous state of our prisons before things escalate out of hand completely.