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Husband of allegedly murdered woman Frances Crawford charged with breaching bail

Husband of allegedly murdered woman Frances Crawford charged with breaching bail

A Lockyer Valley man accused of murdering his wife and staging a lawnmower accident as a cover-up has been charged with breaching his strict bail conditions.
Robert John Crawford, 47, was granted Supreme Court bail last month with a string of conditions.
They included a $250,000 surety, a night-time curfew to remain at his Upper Lockyer home and the requirement to report daily to police.
It is understood that the bail breach relates to the night curfew.
Mr Crawford, an RAAF pilot, is accused of murdering his wife, Frances Crawford, and interfering with her corpse.
He was arrested on Saturday in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, and charged with breach of bail.
The matter was briefly mentioned in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday, where he was bailed to reappear in Toowoomba on August 14.
He entered into a new bail undertaking.
Ms Crawford, 49, was a psychologist in Toowoomba, and the couple had three adult children.
She died at the family's rural property, in the Upper Lockyer region, in the early hours of July 30 last year.
Mr Crawford was arrested and charged with his wife's death in October last year.
Emergency services were called to the Upper Lockyer property at 3:37am on July 30.
Ms Crawford's body was found at the bottom of a retaining wall with a ride-on lawnmower nearby.
The court has previously heard that Mr Crawford will contest the charges.
During his Supreme Court bail application, Justice Frances Williams said she was satisfied that the bail conditions imposed had lowered the risk to an "acceptable level".
"The Crown alleges that following an argument, [Mr Crawford] strangled the deceased and then manipulated the deceased's body so it appeared she had died in an accident," Justice Williams said.
The Crown had opposed Mr Crawford's bail application, arguing that he posed an unacceptable risk of interfering with witnesses and that no conditions could be imposed to ameliorate the risk to an appropriate level.
A committal hearing is set down for hearing in the Ipswich Magistrates Court in October.

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