A respected village postmaster has been jailed for life - with a minimum of 20 years - after being found guilty of beating his wife to death with an iron bar. Robin Garbutt attacked his wife Diana as she slept, in a bid to escape from his debts and a failing marriage.
He then tried to cover his tracks by pretending their post office at Melsonby in North Yorkshire had been robbed by a gunman.
Garbutt, who cried in the witness box without shedding tears and changed a crucial aspect of his story, had told the jury: "I would never hurt Di."
But detectives discovered the village shop and post office was struggling to make money and Garbutt had been stealing cash to spend on lavish weekends away.
In sentencing, Mr Justice Openshaw said Garbutt's lies had been exposed as "pure humbug".
"He has always accompanied his lies with sanctimonious lies of his love for her.
"By their verdict, the jury have exposed this as pure humbug.
"This was a brutal, planned, cold-blooded murder of his wife as she lay sleeping in bed." Read More
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