How blood colour analysis supports Robin Garbutt's claim that he is an innocent victim of wrongful conviction and imprisonment
- empowerinnocent
- 3 minutes ago
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Introduction
One of the requirements for Permission to be granted in the Court of Appeal is that there is fresh evidence. I believe this information meets that requirement.
I am a justice campaigner and have serious concerns about the Robin Garbutt case. I would like to provide some critical information about the case which has been missed by all. Robin was wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and the time of death was absolutely critical to the prosecution case.
I am convinced that analysis of blood colour to prove time of death is credible and critical and could immediately overturn Robin Garbutt's wrongful conviction.
There was key witness evidence stating that the blood was bright red, however there is a principal that blood oxidizes quickly and the colour of blood has been used in previous cases as an accurate method to determine time of death.
The prosecution case relied on the time of death being several hours before the body of Diana Garbutt was found.
The colour of blood analysis proves that the time of death was only an hour or two maximum before the discovery of Diana's body.
The witness evidence of the first attending police officer and the neighbour separately and independent of each other said the blood was bright red.
The prosecution case relied on the fact that Robin had committed the murder before he went downstairs to open the Post Office many hours before the body was discovered.
I believe that the till receipts showed that there was a continuous flow of customers from the time that the Post Office opened, which means that Robin could not have had time to go back upstairs, commit the murder and go back downstairs, with no sign of his action (blood splatter on his clothes, etc) and, therefore, could not have been the perpetrator
The first police officer said that there was a lot of blood and, therefore, it is difficult to explain how Robin could have been the perpetrator without picking up any blood at all; not even a spec or splatter.
If there was any blood on Robins clothes (even a microscopic amount) then this would have been picked up by forensics.
None was found.
If it was suggested that he had changed his clothes then where would he have hidden them? He did not leave the property so if they existed the Police would have found them at the property. They did not find any clothes with blood splatter at the property.
The prosecution also said that if the Jury did not believe that an intruder was the perpetrator and deliberately killed Diana then the only other possible explanation had to be that it was Robin.
I believe that there were other plausible explanations, one of which is Positional Asphyxiation as detailed below
They key points are:
The colour of blood; and.
Witnesses (the neighbour and the first police officer) said it was bright red which means that the time of death was likely to have been a maximum of an hour before the body was found and could NOT have been more than 2 hours before as the prosecution falsely claimed. (See: http://www.robingarbuttofficial.com/some-facts-from-the-case).
First police officer to the scene
The first police officer to the murder scene observed a large area of the bed sheet around the females head (Diana), which was the colour bright red. He assumed it was blood. The police officer said that given the amount of blood on the bed and around the victim: “I would have expected to see Robin covered in blood. I do not recall seeing any blood on him”.
The problem is that the police claim that the time of death was 2.30 am – or approx 7 hours before they attended.
However, the colour of blood changes rapidly when exposed to air. Within 2 to 3 hours blood changes from bright red to a dark colour.
For multiple research papers and additional forms of information about analysing the colour of blood to establish a time since deposition see:
Blood - Detection, Identification & Age Determination
Haemoglobin is the protein responsible for oxygen transport in the blood, making up 97% of the blood's dry content. Upon contact, with oxygen outside the body, haemoglobin will convert to three consecutive derivatives over time; oxyhaemoglobin (HbO2) --> methaemoglobin (MetHb) --> hemichrome (HC). This transition is accompanied by a colour change over time from deep red to dark brown, as is illustrated in the image on the right.
The colour change of the blood is caused by the different optical properties of the haemoglobine derivatives. The bright red HbO2 transforms into the dark red MetHb and into the dark brown HC. With reflectance spectroscopy techniques the amount of each of the derivatives in the bloodstain can be established. Based on the measured spectra it is possible to detect and identify blood stains at the crime scene, and above all the age of the bloodstain can be determined. The possibility to determine the age of a blood stain is one of the unique technologies that is developed by the researchers of FTS.
There are several possibilities to determine the spectra of the blood stains. The two main groups are demonstrated in the following images.
Reflectance Spectroscopy
Reflectance spectroscopy is a fibre based measurement technique. White light is directed onto the sample where it is partially absorbed and reflected. The reflected light is directed to the spectrometer where the reflection spectrum of the sample is determined. This spectrum is the output of the measurement. With these so called point measurements no additional information of the sample, e.g. its location or form, is obtained. This, however, is possible with spectral imaging, a combination of spectroscopy and digital imaging. By using a panoramic line-scanning method an image with spectral information is obtained. For every pixel in the image a spectrum is acquired which can be used for further analysis; detection, identification and age determination of blood.
Spectral Imaging
By using reflectance spectroscopy and spectral imaging the detection, identification and age determination of blood stains can be accomplished without touching or destroying the sample. Due to the small components the systems are portable and perfectly applicable in the lab as well as at a remote location. It is, therefore, ideal for measurements in a forensic setting. The measurements can take place at the crime scene without the risk of contamination or destruction of the traces.
Despite this research, it may be the case that this method has not yet been adopted by Forensic Scientists in the UK. However, this does not mean that it is not relevant to this case. In a court of law this evidence does not need to provide absolute conclusive proof, it only need to establish that there is reasonable doubt as to the time of death. The scientific reports show that blood oxidizes in a short space of time and changes colour. Within 1 to 3 hours it changes from bright red to a darker brownish red. This means that the time of death could not have been more than 3 hours, let alone 7 hours (as the prosecution had claimed) before discovery of the body. It is therefore extremely relevant.
Positional Asphyxiation
Diana's body was found face down, which can cause asphyxia. This is something that someone like a police office would know. i.e. by placing an unconscious body in this position would cause death, but not many other people would be aware of it. Police officers are made aware of this during training to make sure they are aware of this when restraining people.
This would mean that someone with training could have done this deliberately to murder Diana or someone who was not aware that this would lead to death may have done it accidently.
The prosecution claimed that there could be no cause of death other than being murdered by Robin
Motive
It was claimed that a robber would not have had motive to kill Diana. This does not consider the fact that Diana Garbutt was trained in close protection in the army. She may have confronted a burglar who knocked her unconscious and left her in a position where it accidently led to Positional Asphyxiation.
It was claimed in the trial that if the Jury did not accept the version of events that Diana was killed by a robber then the only other possibility was the Robin murdered her.
This is flawed and there are many other scenarios which could have led to her murder. The Positional Asphyxiation for example as described above.
Another may have been a possible jealous lover. It is possible that Diana may have had an affair with a police officer, possible the police officer whose DNA was on the murder weapon. What if a ‘lover ‘came into the house on the night she died whilst her husband was down stairs (after 4.30 am) and saw the cases packed leading to the realisation that she was going on holiday with her husband and resulted in a violent outburst. That person may have then thought a staged robbery would be a good cover story and pass the blame onto Robin.
Or if she had an affair with someone who was married and had threatened to expose the affair. This could create another possible motive for someone to murder her who may have then staged the robbery to hide their motive.
Failures of the police investigation
The failures in the Police Investigation were more than grossly incompetent or negligent. They had to be deliberate, which may suggest that the true perpetrator was a police officer or close Masonic friend.
The crucial evidence of the clump of hair found on the bed next to Diana's body which went missing could not have been lost accidently.
The iron bar was supposed to be the murder weapon and had the DNA of a police officer on it. That Officer failed to provide an explanation of where he was at the time of the murder or why his DNA was on the iron bar.
It seems that the iron bar may not have initially been on the wall as it was not in TV footage immediately after the murder and it was claimed it could have only been placed there later by Robin Garbutt. This ignores the possibility that the bar may have been thrown over the wall; there had previously been a pile of scrap metal on the other side and would have provided the ideal hiding place for the iron bar. If the bar had been found by a garage worker they may have been reluctant to hand it in to Police (perhaps they suspected Police involvement or feared the perpetrator) so placed it on the wall where they knew it would be found.
Or that it could have been placed there later by the perpetrator.
The photo showing the rear of the Post Office
The photo showing the rear of the Post Office shows an enclosed car park with an entrance onto a side road to the rear of the property. It would have been easy for a robber to exit the rear of the Post Office and access the rear car park to get into a car, which means no one would have been seen exiting to the front or side of the Post Office.
Conclusion
I have tried to show in this article that there are just too many inconsistencies and discrepancies in the case for the conviction of Robin Garbutt for the murder of his wife, Diana, to be considered to be safe.
There is also further evidence from Robin and Diana’s friend, Vanessa Golding, who discovered a hooded top and gloves in Melsonbury, which was ignored by Police.
There is evidence from a customer who said they heard Diana’s voice after 6am, which has also been ignored.
The destruction of forensic evidence by the Police has been ignored, including the clump of hair found on the bed or the Police Officers DNA on the iron bar.
The evidence about the use of blood analysis to determine time of death has been reviewed by a former Senior Police Officer who confirmed that it is credible.
There are forensic experts who can verify further about the analysis of blood colour to accurately determine a time of death.
Why have none of these points been investigated by the IOPC? Why has this evidence not been submitted to the CCRC?
By Dave Davies
Dave Davies set up UK Justice Is Broken Campaign. He has been embroiled in a17 year legal battle to expose a Freemason Law Society President who he claims lied under oath and which was covered up by Judges, the Police and Regulators.
Please read the comments left by some of the 5k people who have signed the UK Justice Is Broken petition: https://www.change.org/p/uk-justice-is-broken-end-uk-corruption-call-for-a-taskforce-to-expose-the-real-traitors
Or the comments left almost daily by hundreds of people whose lives have been decimated by corrupt solicitors and their regulator: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sra.org.uk
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