RAAF pilot, Robert Crawford, conversations with colleague after wife’s suspected murder

A Royal Australian Air Force pilot talked to a colleague of how horrible it was to wash blood off his skin after police arrived at the scene of his wife’s alleged murder, which prosecutors say was staged to look like a ride-on mower accident.

Robert Crawford was a “love rat” who lived a double life before killing his wife, Frances Crawford, so he would not lose millions of dollars in a divorce, according to prosecutors.

The 49-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty, allegedly staged her death to look like a yard accident at their 40-hectare property in Upper Lockyer, in south-east Queensland, in July 2024.

The trial has so far heard Robert Crawford was involved in a string of affairs while married, including with three RAAF colleagues.

His colleague, RAAF pilot Peter Wuttke, told the Supreme Court on Wednesday about his conversations with the accused in the days after the death.

Wuttke said Robert Crawford had told him that after emergency services arrived at the property on the morning of July 30, police escorted him back to the house and asked him if he wanted to shower.

Wuttke told police that Robert Crawford had explained he would trail blood through the house and “how horrible it was to wash the blood off his skin in the shower”, the court heard.

Frances Crawford’s younger sister, Tamara Davis, told the court of an incident in July 2023, where her sister found Robert Crawford’s phone, which she investigated for clues of affairs.

Robert Crawford was “so angry” he ripped the phone out of her hands, Davis recalled her sister telling her. He yelled at her, making Frances Crawford fear for her safety, she told the court.

In July 2024, Davis said her sister told her the marriage was in disrepair, that she was feeling scared and overwhelmed, and that she wished her husband would have a car accident so she did not have to decide to leave the marriage.

Defence barrister Saul Holt KC earlier told the jury that Robert Crawford’s account of his wife’s death had remained consistent – that he woke, saw his wife was not in bed, searched the property, and found her under the mower. He said he pulled her out, before calling for help.

Holt said the scene was not staged, and instead the death was a tragic accident, explaining that the mower rollovers were not uncommon.

The mower was found with the wheel hard turned to the right, the brake was off, and it was in reverse, Holt said.

“The defence case is that this was not a murder, not by Robert Crawford, and not by anyone else,” he said.

The trial before Justice Lincoln Crowley continues.

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