Was the Post Office’s Horizon software used to wrongly convict a man of murder?

Robin Garbutt, the postmaster who lived above the village shop with his wife, Diana, was a popular figure in Melsonby, North Yorkshire. The last time I saw him, I was six years old, bouncing on the trampoline in my grandparents’ garden. Robin had travelled to visit the village where he’d grown up to see his mother, and had stopped by to ask my grandfather for tips on growing vegetables. A few weeks later, his face was plastered across the newspapers: Garbutt had been arrested for killing his wife. 

A year later, in 2011, Garbutt was convicted of murder: sentenced to life in prison, the 58-year-old remains behind bars. But is he guilty? Garbutt has always maintained his innocence and says that the Post Office’s faulty Horizon computer system was used to frame him. The family of his wife aren’t convinced: Diana’s mother says it was ‘obvious to anyone that Robin is taking advantage of the Horizon scandal to gain publicity’.