Robert John Crawford, 48, a former squadron leader based at Amberley, in Ipswich, appeared composed in the Supreme Court on Monday as he entered the plea. He is accused of killing Frances Elizabeth Crawford at their Upper Lockyer Valley home, west of Brisbane, in July 2024.
Opening the Crown's case, prosecutor Chris Cook showed the jury a photograph of Mrs Crawford's body lying beside the mower at the bottom of a retaining wall on the rural property. Cook said it was Mr Crawford's account that he had been asleep and 'woke up and wandered around for a while and found his beloved wife dead there at the bottom of the wall'. At the time, Cook said, it was 'a very cold night in Upper Lockyer' and she had apparently been worried about sprinklers.
The court heard the couple had separated about a year before Mrs Crawford's death. In July 2023, Crawford sent his wife a message refusing to leave the family home permanently. 'He spent the next eight or nine months getting his way back into the house,' Cook said, and was allowed back in May 2024 on a three-month trial.
Conditions agreed for the reconciliation, shown to the jury, included Crawford avoiding interactions with females, keeping his wife informed of his whereabouts, attending church with her and not lying. Cook told the jury that Crawford was a cheater, adulterer, love rat, womaniser and master manipulator, and that he was motivated to kill because of his long-term interest in other women, the prospect of losing money in a divorce settlement, and a financial benefit from his wife's death.
The Crown said Crawford wanted to keep the family home and did not want to split his $1.7 million superannuation; he also stood to lose the property on Thomas Road, which Cook said was the house Crawford had built, was proud of and loved, valued at up to $2.6 million. 'Robert Crawford loves money … loved it so much that he killed for it,' Cook said.
Cook described Mrs Crawford as a devout Christian who had done everything for her children and moved around for her husband's RAAF career, and who 'wanted to be loved by her husband'. He said the jury would hear that she 'didn't feel safe'.
Pilots and personnel within the RAAF, women who had relationships with Crawford, and medical and forensic experts are expected to be called. The jury is expected to visit the Upper Lockyer home next week. The trial, before Justice Lincoln Crowley and with Crawford represented by defence barrister Saul Holt KC, is scheduled to run for up to three weeks.