A JURY has inspected the bedroom where a sub-postmaster allegedly beat his wife to death with a metal bar.

The eight men and four women visited The Village Shop and Post Office, in Melsonby, near Richmond, at the request of prosecutors in the Diana Garbutt murder trial.

The jury was shown the living quarters where Robin Garbutt, formerly of York and Huby, is alleged to have attacked his 40-year-old wife in the early hours of March 23 last year.

Members went into the shop and post office where Garbutt, 45, claims an armed robbery took place shortly before he found his wife’s body.

They inspected the wall opposite the North Yorkshire post office where the suspected murder weapon was found.

The jury also looked at the yard behind the post office and walked beside the village green where a resident told the court she saw the defendant the night before the murder.

Garbutt waived his right to attend the visit, which took place on the 12th day of his trial.

His barrister, Jamie Hill QC, together with prosecution barrister David Hatton QC, solicitors, police officers and court staff, did join the jury.

Mr Justice Openshaw, the trial judge, also attended.

Before leaving Teesside Crown Court, he warned the jury not to experiment by testing what could be heard in the different rooms of the shop and home.

The court heard the building had been preserved essentially as it was on the morning of the murder, although perishable items had been removed from the shop.

The bloodstained mattress, on which Mrs Garbutt’s body was found, was still in the bedroom, the jury was told.

During the visit, traffic was prevented from travelling along Moor Road, which runs past the post office.

Earlier in the day, the court heard further transcripts of Garbutt’s interviews with police.

Garbutt said his wife, who grew up in Eggborough and Selby, was definitely all right when he got up at about 4am on the Tuesday.

He told detectives a man armed with a gun appeared in the shop shortly after he had opened the safe at 8.30am.

The man said: “Don’t do anything stupid, we’ve got your wife,” Garbutt claimed.

Asked what he said to the man, the defendant said: “I hope I said look after Di but for the life of me I can’t remember.”

After his arrest, he told police the raider left through the back door – after initially saying the man departed through the front.

Garbutt told police he remembered being worried that his wife might have done something stupid, adding: “Di was the type of person who I think would have put up a fight.”

Asked what he could remember after finding his wife’s body, he told police: “I remember rubbing her back. I remember holding her hand. I remember going for help. I remember trying to turn her over and failing.

“I feel terrible about that. I didn’t do anything for Di that I was told to do and I feel terrible about that.”

Garbutt was asked how well he and Diana got on.

He said: “I think we were as close as close could be. I loved her to bits.”

At one point, the defendant told officers while being questioned: “I’m just frightened of making a mistake.”

Garbutt denies murdering his wife.

The trial continues.