‘Exit plans’ and ‘god work’: Notes from accused wife-killer’s home shown to jury

Updated November 3, 2026 — 6:27pm,first published 3:22pm

Before she was allegedly killed by her pilot husband, Frances Crawford made detailed notes about their relationship, including his excuses for affairs, that were later found by detectives in her home, prosecutors have told a court.

On Tuesday, the jury in Robert Crawford’s Supreme Court trial were shown pages from a notepad, after a forensic scientist gave evidence about a blood-stained towel and mat found in his bathroom.

Crawford, a former Royal Australian Air Force pilot, is accused of killing his wife, Frances, whose body was found at the bottom of a retaining wall on the couple’s rural south-east Queensland property along with a ride-on mower in July 2024.

Prosecutors say the pilot, described as a “love rat” who had a string of extramarital affairs, murdered Frances so he would not lose millions of dollars in a divorce.

Crawford has pleaded not guilty to murder. His defence team told the jury the death was a tragic accident, and he believed his wife moved the mower because the sprinklers were going to come on.

In the notes shown to the jury, there were accounts of the pair’s alleged arguments, emotional issues, and details about their intimacy.

A cost benefit analysis for “staying” and “leaving” were also shown. On the “staying” page, the top cost was losing a close relationship with her daughter. She also allegedly wrote: “Rob may cheat. Ongoing reality.”

Benefits of staying included: “could do amazing god work together”. Costs of leaving included financial concerns.

The notes also referred to “exit plans”. There was a reference to Frances not enjoying his company, and “no patience for dealing with trauma”.

The court earlier heard of a series of boundaries that Crawford had agreed to upon moving back in with Frances after their separation in July 2023. These included no masturbation or porn, avoiding interactions with females and not lying.

One note read: “Living with Rob is a lot harder than I thought. It isn’t romantic. I find I have less hope before he moved back in. I feel like giving up most of the time.”

In another, Frances allegedly wrote that her husband Crawford “wanted us to be a ‘normal’ couple one day, and be able to talk about our feelings”.

She allegedly wrote that he wanted the pair to share all their money, cars, and for her to “not [have] my own bank account for safety”.

In other notes, there were questions about other women, including at a marathon Crawford had attended, and references to a “GPS tracker”, and “still single man mindset”.

There were also notes about the pair’s sex life, and intimacy “not making me feel loved”. In another note, Frances allegedly wrote: “Have you ever seen a good marriage with this much cheating?”

Some of the notes referred to Crawford’s affair with a WA woman, who the trial earlier heard he had met on dating website eHarmony in 2023.

“Organising WA girl to sleep with him while booking [with relationship counsellor],” the note read.

“… The day before sex he gave presents to me and the kids ... He used excuse that he felt rejected, and he felt bad for the girl and didn’t want to hurt her at the time. Didn’t care how it would affect me or his attempt to get back together.”

“Divorce” was listed as a consequence if the rule “No cheating” was broken.

Blood found on towel, bathmat

Earlier, Sergeant Owen Esaias, a forensic scientist with Queensland police, told the court that testing confirmed human blood was on the towel and bathmat found inside the Crawford bathroom.

Esaias told the court there were 16 stains on the bathmat. He said the most plausible scenario was that the blood had fallen vertically from a blood source.

There were limitations in testing the fabric, he said, so he could not eliminate the alternative explanation that the blood came from other scenarios.

The trial earlier heard Crawford told a colleague how “horrible” it was to wash blood from his skin in the shower, after police had escorted him to the bathroom.

In analysing the crime scene where Frances was found, Esaias said he considered various scenarios that may have caused blood stains on the rock retaining wall.

He said it was plausible that Frances’ head injury came from her head hitting the rock, but it was also plausible she had an existing injury that caused the blood to transfer onto the rock.

“The injury may have been in existence, and then that injury has come into contact with the rock at that location,” he said.

Senior Constable Matthew Fender, who was part of the investigating team at the crime scene, explained several photos he took at the property.

In one, Frances could be seen with her right ugg boot off, which was lying to her right, but still had a sock on. Photos before the trial showed her left foot still had her boot on.

Fender said investigators removed her socks, and took photos of Frances’ feet.

“On review of the images, it appeared that there was a piece of grass in between the big toe and the second toe of the right foot,” he said.

Holt put to Fender there had been no fingerprinting done on the lawnmower. Fender agreed, but said a swab was taken from the steering wheel.

The jury were shown images of Frances in a body bag during a forensic examination at the morgue.

On Monday, they saw photos of Frances’ injuries, including red markings under her chin and on her neck, bruising to her collarbone, a broken fingernail on her right hand, and an injury to the back of her head.

Photos of the rock retaining wall, which had dried red stains and hair on some sections, were also shown.

The jury are expected to visit the Crawford property on Wednesday.

Cloe Read is the crime and court reporter at Brisbane Times.Connect via X or email.

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