An ex-RAAF pilot who reconciled with his wife and agreed to comply with a raft of strict conditions messaged her hours before her death to say he missed her, a court has heard.
Robert John Crawford, 49, pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Frances Elizabeth Crawford as a Supreme Court trial got underway in Brisbane on Monday.
The mother-of-three and psychologist, then 49, was found lifeless next to a ride-on lawnmower at the bottom of a retaining wall at the couple's Upper Lockyer property west of Toowoomba in the early hours of July 30, 2024.
A jury heard on Monday that the scene had allegedly been staged by her husband to cover up her murder.
It was alleged Crawford had strangled his wife hours earlier and that she was already dead, dying or unconscious by the time the mower was toppled off the wall.
Harrowing details of the couple's 'toxic' marriage were laid bare on Monday, including their initial split a year earlier in 2023 over Crawford's alleged infidelity.
The couple later reconciled and had been in and out of marriage counselling.
The court heard on Tuesday that the couple travelled to Kingscliff for a weekend getaway and returned home on July 28 - the day before Crawford allegedly killed his wife, The Courier-Mail reported.
Ex-RAAF pilot Robert John Crawford, 49, (pictured on Tuesday) pleaded not to murdering his wife as a Supreme Court trial got underway in Brisbane
Mother-of-three Frances Elizabeth Crawford was found dead near a ride-on lawnmower at the bottom of a retaining wall at the couple's Upper Lockyer property in July 2024
'Hi babe thanks for a lovely weekend away, I loved the beach,' Crawford messaged his wife the next morning on July 29.
'And the company was good too xx'.
Frances replied: 'Nice bananagrams message!!! Thankyou xx'.
Her husband later wrote: 'hey franny guess what? I miss you'.
The court heard that Frances then reminded her husband to book a polygraph test to detect any infidelities, which was part of their marriage conditions following their reconciliation.
'Will do,' Crawford replied.
Crawford's barrister Saul Holt KC told the court on Tuesday that the Signal messages exchanged between the couple don't support the prosecution claims.
He earlier told the jury that the circumstantial case amounted to a 1000-piece jigsaw, and that they had been shown just six pieces of the wrong shape.
The court heard that Robert Crawford (centre) was given an extensive list of 15 boundaries and conditions to abide by if he wanted to stay in the marriage
The court also heard that the couple's sprawling property near Toowoomba was conservatively valued at $2million.
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.
