Post Office murder victim's husband was threatened

A masked gunman threatened the husband of the murdered post office worker who was found dead in the flat above her shop.

Mr Garbutt has told police how an intruder broke into the couple's shop brandishing a gun and saying "we've got your wife", before demanding money from him.

Diane Garbutt was found dead later that morning in the upstairs living quarters of the store in the quiet village of Melsonby near Richmond on Tuesday.

North Yorkshire Police have revealed that 40-year-old Mrs Garbutt died from severe head injuries but were unable to give anymore details about the cause of her death, apart from confirming that she had not been shot.

Detectives say that Mrs Garbutt's husband Robin had been working downstairs in the shop since 4.30am when he was confronted by the raider, who eventually left with a substantial amount of money in a holdall. Paramedics were called out to the post office where they found Mrs Garbutt's body at around 8.30am.

Police are treating the death as a murder investigation and have issued a description of the offender, who they say is believed to have been wearing a black tight balaclava over his face, a dark blue, long sleeved t-shirt and dark jeans.The tragedy comes almost exactly a year after armed robbers targeted the post office, threatened staff and made off with stamps and a large amount of cash.