Frances Crawford repeatedly raised concerns about her husband’s “adultery and rage”, calling him a “sex addict” in messages in the weeks before he allegedly killed her, a court has heard.
Former Royal Australian Air Force pilot Robert Crawford, 49, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife, who was found at the bottom of a retaining wall at their rural property in south-east Queensland in July 2024.
According to the defence, her death was a tragic accident. Crawford claimed he believed his wife died while moving a ride-on mower late at night because the sprinklers were going to come on.
On Thursday, Detective Senior Constable Tahnee Bursle gave evidence about messages found on the Crawfords’ phones, with Frances discussing her worry about his infidelity and being away for work.
“You are so good at lying that I now can’t trust a word you say when it comes to being unfaithful,” a message in early June 2024 read.
“You might miss me, love me, etc, but you were saying all these things when you were cheating at the same time. You have sweet talked all those other women … I’m not going to risk my life to STDs and my heart to you when you are a sex addict.”
A note found by investigators on Frances’ phone detailed the pair’s relationship in the months before her death.
“My partner’s adultery, rage, and avoidance of emotional intimacy has left me feeling isolated and alone. I feel like I have been holding our family together without his support. I felt like I was constantly walking on eggshells in the last 10 years,” it read.
“When I found out about his first ‘emotional’ affair and visit to a massage parlour, I felt like my heart was totally shredded, and it took me years to come back from that only to be rejected again … I felt so alone.”
The note also described Frances’ reaction to finding out Crawford had bought airfares for other women, the court heard.
“I couldn’t stop screaming in pain. How could my husband do this to me? He promised me forever, and he had been living a lie,” it read.
“He had no problem organising sex dates whenever he chose, but he never made an effort for me. That has made me feel so trapped and unloved for so long. No matter how much I communicated how this made me feel, he was checked out years ago.
“I felt he just stayed in our marriage out of obligation … Once we had a child he checked out and started cheating on me and this just increased in number and severity over the next 21 years.”
Under the heading “physical”, the note described Crawford emotionally pressuring Frances into sex after surgery and after childbirth, “although I had barely healed. This delayed the healing process”.
The note also read: “He has always subtly indicated I have physical and character flaws – fat stomach, wrinkles, boring (when I was sick or tired raising children), could do with a make-up lesson etc, and he never seemed proud of me in public.
“He didn’t invite me to work events, which made me feel he was ashamed of me. (I now know he was actually cheating with girls at the work event so he didn’t wish to introduce us as I would know his relationship with them was suspect.)”
The jury were read messages between the pair in the hours before Frances’s death. On the morning of July 29, Crawford thanked Frances for a lovely weekend away at Kingscliff.
A couple of hours later, Frances told Crawford: “Please book polygraph for August 6 if you haven’t already.” The trial has earlier heard the polygraph was part of their reconciliation efforts.
Crawford confirmed, and later messaged: “Hey Franny, guess what? I miss you.”
Later that day, the pair messaged about an appointment Frances had, and discussed finances, and paying for accommodation for an upcoming trip.
Shortly after 5pm, the pair said they would see each other at home.
The next messages, which according to the prosecution case were staged by Crawford, were from Frances’ phone at 11.21pm:“Hey, are you going to move the mower soon?”
A message from Crawford’s phone read that he was sorting out an electrocution issue at work. Another message read: “You can just turn sprinklers off if easier too xx”.
Shortly after midnight, messages from Crawford’s phone detailed how he was finished with his studies and going to bed. Another message read: “Hellooo? Xx Stop watching Korean Netflix and come to bed haha”.
The final message read: “Hey I’m getting really sleepy”.
The court heard the last messages had a read time of 7am the following morning on Frances’ phone.
The trial before Justice Lincoln Crowley continues.
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