18-05-2025
EXCLUSIVE Why kids of air force pilot accused of 'murdering mum and staging it as a tragic late-night lawnmower incident' have moved out of home
The estranged children of the air force pilot accused of killing their mum and staging it as a lawnmower accident have moved out of the family home as he moves back in.
RAAF Squadron Leader Robert Crawford, 47, has been freed on bail awaiting trial and is living at the family farmhouse in the Lockyer Valley in Queensland 's Darling Downs.
He allegedly strangled his psychologist wife Frances, 49, before faking her death as a tragic accident where she had been crushed by an overturned ride-on lawnmower.
Crawford was allowed out of jail without an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet after police told the court it wouldn't work because of network limitations at his rural home.
But after his release, a family friend has revealed the couple's adult children have moved out amid the murder allegations their father faces over their mother's death.
According to a close friend of Ms Crawford, the children have now been left penniless by the decision to leave home but feel they still can't return at this time.
It is not suggested that they left home because they had any view on the guilt or innocence of their father.
Crawford's bail hearing was told the children, aged 23, 20, and 19, accuse their dad of being abusive, explosive and violent, and grew up 'walking on eggshells'.
'The applicant clearly has a bad relationship with his children,' the police prosecutor told the court.
'Given the nature of these charges it cannot be underestimated that he does not present a risk to witnesses.'
Crawford admitted to detectives that he had multiple affairs during his 27-year marriage.
'Frances and I have had marital problems in the past, but we have been trying to fix these issues,' Crawford told the police in his first interview after her death, court documents revealed.
'Our problems stem from me being unfaithful during our marriage. I have been unfaithful on numerous occasions over the course of a 10-year period.
'Francis became aware of these incidents in mid 2023 and this resulted in me moving out of the family home.'
Crawford lived at a Brisbane address and on his RAAF base between July 2023 and April 2024, but insisted they were 'giving our marriage the best shot at success'.
However, the court also heard that during the separation Crawford had set up an account on the e-Harmony dating website.
Robert Crawford (pictured) is an squadron leader - a senior role and the equivalent of a Major in the Army - who operates out of the Royal Australian Airforce Amberley Base
Police raised concerns that Crawford's return to the family home after both the long separation with his wife and his eight months incarceration could cause issues.
'He proposes to return to the scene of his alleged crimes,' the police prosecutor said.
'He had not lived at that property for a relatively extended period of time prior to April 2024.
'The property is likely to be sought as part of the deceased estate by the applicants' children. At this stage there is no legal impediment of him living there.'
The move has outraged friends and family of Ms Crawford, said her close friend Suzanne Duffy.
'To say the family are angry is an understatement,' she said.
'The grandfather of Frances Crawford's children put up $250,000 for her alleged murderer's bail.'
In multiple comments online, Ms Duffy slammed the decision to allow Crawford to be released back into the community ahead of his trial.
Ms Duffy has now set up a GoFundMe for the Crawfords' children which has raised almost $25,000 to help fund ongoing mental healthcare, living costs and legal fees.
'The plea for your support is desperate and urgent,' she posted in the online fundraiser appeal. 'The laws should be changed; the kids are entitled to that house.'
Ms Crawford was found dead at their rural home, 100km west of Brisbane, in the early hours of July 30, 2024.
She was discovered by emergency services at the base of a rock wall next to a ride-on lawnmower with fatal head and neck injuries.
Crawford was arrested around ten weeks later in October and charged with his wife's murder and interfering with her corpse.
Police allege Crawford strangled his wife, then used her phone to send fake messages before staging her fatal accident.
During the bail application Crawford's lawyer Saul Holt said there was no conclusive evidence to support the prosecution's claim that his client strangled his wife in a state of 'murderous rage'.
But the court was told Crawford posed 'an unacceptable risk of failing to appear, committing an offence, endangering the safety or welfare of witnesses and others and/or interfering with witnesses'.
'There are no conditions which can be imposed to ameliorate those risks to an acceptable level,' the police prosecutor said.
Crawford was remanded in custody after he was initially charged but seven months later, Justice Frances Williams granted bail and freed him on May 2.
Crawford looked tanned and relaxed as he reported to the Toowoomba Police station around 20km from his Upper Lockyer Valley farm last Monday.
On Wednesday, dressed in shorts and a fitted T-shirt, he popped into Bunnings to buy a light bulb.
Clearly concerned about being spotted, given the high profile of his case, he chose to slip in and out of the trade entry with his sunglasses firmly kept on.
