A former RAAF pilot who had reconciled with his wife under a strict set of relationship conditions sent her a message saying he missed her just hours before she died, a court has heard.
Robert John Crawford, 49, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife, Frances Elizabeth Crawford, as his Supreme Court trial began in Brisbane on Monday.
Frances, a 49-year-old mother of three and psychologist, was found dead beside a ride-on mower in the early hours of July 30, 2024. Her body was discovered at the base of a retaining wall on the couple’s Upper Lockyer property, west of Toowoomba.
Prosecutors allege the crime scene was staged by Crawford in an attempt to make his wife’s death appear accidental.
The prosecution claims Crawford strangled Frances several hours earlier and that she was dead, dying or unconscious when the ride-on mower was pushed or tipped over the retaining wall.
The jury was also given a disturbing account of the couple’s allegedly “toxic” marriage, including their separation in 2023 after Crawford was accused of infidelity.
They later reunited and attended marriage counselling on an intermittent basis.
On Tuesday, the court heard the couple had taken a weekend trip to Kingscliff before returning home on July 28, the day before Crawford allegedly killed his wife, The Courier-Mail reported.
Former RAAF pilot Robert John Crawford, 49, (pictured on Tuesday) has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife as his Supreme Court trial began in Brisbane
Mother-of-three Frances Elizabeth Crawford was found dead beside a ride-on mower at the bottom of a retaining wall on the couple’s Upper Lockyer property in July 2024
The following morning, July 29, Crawford messaged his wife: ‘Hi babe thanks for a lovely weekend away, I loved the beach.’
‘And the company was good too xx.’
Frances responded: ‘Nice bananagrams message!!! Thankyou xx.’
Crawford then sent another message: ‘hey franny guess what? I miss you.’
The jury heard Frances subsequently reminded her husband to arrange a polygraph examination, intended to identify any further infidelity. The test was one of a number of conditions imposed on Crawford after the couple reconciled.
‘Will do,’ Crawford replied.
Crawford’s barrister, Saul Holt KC, argued on Tuesday that the Signal messages between the couple were inconsistent with the prosecution’s allegations.
He had earlier described the circumstantial case as a 1000-piece jigsaw, telling jurors they had been shown only six pieces—and that those pieces were the wrong shape.
The court heard Robert Crawford (centre) was required to follow an extensive list of 15 boundaries and conditions if he wished to remain in the marriage
The couple’s sprawling property near Toowoomba was conservatively valued at $2 million, the court heard.
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Holt added that Frances’ death was ‘obviously an accident’ and blasted the prosecution’s ‘theory’ as a ‘series of half-baked ideas, not a case’.
On Monday, prosecutor Chris Cook described Crawford as a Top Gun in his professional life – and as a terrible husband with an extensive list of infidelities.
But the marriage was functionally dead by the time Frances died, where both parties wanted it over, Mr Cook told the jury.
The court heard that Frances kept her philandering husband under close surveillance, and gave Crawford an extensive list of 15 boundaries and conditions to abide by if he wanted to stay in the marriage.
These included regularly submitting to polygraph tests, which Crawford allegedly boasted to a lover he could beat, church attendance and receipts for any spending over $30, including food and groceries.
He also had to avoid ‘unnecessary chitchat or interactions with females’ and make his phone accessible to his wife.
‘Deal breakers’ included pornography and masturbation, along with ‘sexual or emotional affairs’.
‘If you make a mistake, you must attempt to repair and redeem yourself in no longer than 24 hours,’ the document read.
A few days prior to her death, Frances Crawford (pictured) told her sister that she wished her husband would die in a car crash because she was tired of dealing with his infidelities
Consequences for breaking the rules included household chores.
Mr Cook told the court that Crawford signed up to these ‘intense’ arrangements.
‘This is crazy you might think ladies and gentlemen… enough to make a man snap,’ the prosecutor told the jury.
The court also heard that a few days before her death, Frances told her sister that she wished her husband would die in a car crash because she was tired of dealing with his infidelities and emotional abuse.
The jury also heard that Crawford was financially motivated to kill his wife.
He had planned to retire at 50, and their sprawling property near Toowoomba, in the highlands west of Brisbane, was conservatively valued at $2million.
Jurors were told that Mr Crawford was the sole beneficiary of his wife’s will.
‘Add that 873 [thousand] for life insurance into the mix, and Frances Crawford’s untimely death becomes very profitable for Mr Crawford at around $5.4million,’ Mr Cook told the court.
A costly divorce settlement would have forced Crawford back to work.
The trial, before Justice Lincoln Crowley, continues.