To replicate delaminations at the coupon and substructural scales, simulated defects are often introduced into test specimens; therefore, understanding their behaviour within the laminate is essential. Full-field imaging is employed to investigate the effects of artificial defects in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites. Centre Crack Ply (CCP) specimens are used to evaluate the Mode II fracture toughness of laminated composites from a simple tensile test. Two batches of specimens are manufactured using IM7/8552. Artificial defects are introduced using a steel film insert of 5 µm thickness. For the first type of samples, the inserts were coated with Frekote release agent, while for the second type, the steel inserts were incorporated into the laminate without coating. Additionally, a third batch of specimens with a [0₄, 90]s lay-up is manufactured. Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) are employed to obtain full-field temperature and displacement data from the tested samples. The inclusion of 90-degree plies enhances thermal contrast exploiting their anisotropic mechanical and thermal properties. First, the specimens are tested under monotonic loading to failure, with DIC used to capture strain distributions at damage initiation and failure. In addition, acoustic Emission is employed to evaluate damage initiation. Load drops provide an indirect evaluation of fracture toughness. Results show that full-field imaging is capable of establishing how the release agent and the lay-up configuration influence damage initiation and propagation. The non-adiabatic thermoelastic response is shown to be effective in observing subsurface damage. Finally, a novel approach to evaluate fracture toughness from the temperature increase at the failure event is proposed.