Former pilot tried for wife's death at lawnmower scene

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 26 Oct, 18:31 · Archive

A former RAAF pilot has gone on trial accused of staging his wife's death beside a ride-on lawnmower in July 2024.

Robert John Crawford, a former RAAF pilot, stands accused of murdering his wife Frances Elizabeth Crawford and staging her death as an accident. The alleged incident occurred in the early hours of 30 July 2024, when paramedics found her body beside a ride-on lawnmower next to a retaining wall near their property at Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. She was wearing pyjamas. The prosecution alleges Crawford strangled his wife and that she was already dead, dying or unconscious when the lawnmower was toppled from the wall and her body repositioned.

The Brisbane Supreme Court heard that the Crawfords' marriage had been deeply troubled, with both parties seeking separation. The prosecution described Crawford as serially unfaithful and emotionally abusive. Just days before her death, Frances told her sister she wished her husband would die in a car crash. The couple had attended counselling multiple times, but the marriage was 'functionally dead', the prosecutor said. Crawford has pleaded not guilty. The trial is anticipated to last three weeks.

How it is being reported

• Lawnmower trial like a thousand-piece jigsaw, jury toldThe trial of a former pilot accused of staging his wife's death has heard evidence of a toxic marriage beset by infidelity and suspicion.The West Australian · 26 Oct, 18:02
• Lawnmower trial like a thousand-piece jigsaw, jury toldThe trial of a former pilot accused of staging his wife's death has heard evidence of a toxic marriage beset by infidelity and suspicion.Perth Now · 26 Oct, 18:02

In this story: Robert John Crawford · Frances Elizabeth Crawford · Brisbane Supreme Court · Toowoomba · RAAF

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