Have I Befriended a Murderer?

While researching archival records in 2021, a biographer came across the case of Robin Garbutt, jailed for killing his wife, Diana, in their home above a village post office. The prosecution said Garbutt invented an armed robbery to disguise the murder: villagers reported no robbery, and paramedics found Diana’s body already in rigor mortis when Garbutt claimed to have discovered her. The judge’s summing-up was strongly critical of him, and ten of twelve jurors voted guilty. Yet Garbutt’s family and many residents of the small village maintain that he is innocent. Curious about the contrast between the brutal crime and supporters’ descriptions of Garbutt as gentle, the writer began gathering case documents and considering a book about the conviction.

Letters led to a prison visit, then regular phone calls. Garbutt was warm and attentive, invited the writer to ask anything, and said he would not try to persuade him about who killed Diana. The writer found himself liking Garbutt while remaining alert to the possibility that this very charm could be calculated. Their conversations brought an unexpected intimacy: the writer began answering calls wherever he was, while minimizing ordinary details of family life because Garbutt was confined to a cell. The account explores how sustained contact unsettles the boundary between investigating a convicted killer and becoming his friend, and how personal rapport complicates the effort to assess a case fairly.