Greek pilot who murdered his Brit wife Caroline Crouch, 20, loses desperate appeal against 27-year sentence – as her father slams his ‘nauseating’ court bid and says ‘the death penalty would have been insufficient’
- Caroline Crouch was smothered to death by husband Babis Anagnostopoulos
- Anagnostopoulos claimed that she had actually been murdered by burglars
Murdered Caroline Crouch’s heartbroken father has slammed his daughter’s killer husband after a judge booted out his desperate appeal telling MailOnline the ‘death penalty would have been insufficient’ for him.
Tragic mum of one Caroline, 20, was smothered to death by husband Babis Anagnostopoulos, 35, in front of their then nine month old daughter Lydia.
For six weeks following the murder in May 2021 he played the ‘grieving widower’ shedding crocodile tears and claiming she had been murdered by burglars.
To add even more credibility the jet setting helicopter pilot strangled the family’s pet dog and tied himself up at the family’s home in an upmarket suburb of Athens.
Police eventually cracked the case after noticing data on Caroline’s smart watch didn’t tally with his story and he was arrested as he attended her funeral on the Greek island of Alonissos where her Liverpool born father David and wife Susan live.
Tragic mum of one Caroline (left), 20, was smothered to death by husband Babis Anagnostopoulos (right), 35, in front of their then nine month old daughter Lydia (C)
Anagnostopoulos (pictured in May), 35, was sentenced last year after strangling Caroline at the couple’s home in an upmarket suburb of Athens. He then lied to police saying she had been killed ‘by burglars’ before his tissue of lies fell apart
After initially being given 27 years at his first trial in May 2022 he then launched a protracted appeal but this was thrown out today at the Mixed Jury Court of Athens.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, David, said: ‘Ever since the first time my daughter’s killer first appeared in court, each appearance has been torture for my family.
‘With his nauseating attempts at justification in self aggrandising speeches to the court; to his attempts to portray my daughter as a child beater it had seemed that the nightmare would never end.
‘Well now it looks as if it has ended. He will be confined with other murderers, perverts, psychopaths and the like for the best years of his life.
‘He will be in his sixties when he leaves prison with the taint of prison indelibly stamped on him.
‘He will have suffered years of degradation and humiliation at the hands of the authorities and his fellow inmates.
‘He will be a broken man; no longer the bright, charming helicopter pilot with glorious future and a beautiful wife and family, but a shambling old man, living in poverty unable to get the most menial of jobs.
‘Of course, none of this will ever be sufficient punishment for killing my beautiful daughter; even the death penalty would be insufficient punishment because when a state kills a murderer, he is given a quick, painless death, whereas he inflicted an agonising and protracted death on my daughter.
To add even more credibility the jet setting helicopter pilot strangled the family’s pet dog and tied himself up at the family’s home in an upmarket suburb of Athens
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, David, said: ‘Ever since the first time my daughter’s killer first appeared in court, each appearance has been torture for my family.’ Pictured: Caroline and Anagnostopoulos
Conniving Anagnostopoulos (pictured in May 2021 outside the couple’s Athens home) cruelly strangled Caroline and then covered up her death for six weeks – insisting she had been murdered by burglars who had even strangled their pet dog Roxy
‘So the nightmare has ended and my family and I can concentrate on raising my little treasure, Caroline’s daughter.
‘She will be raised far away from him and the pernicious influence of his dreadful family. She will never have any contact with the poisonous bunch.’
Anagnostopoulos was not in court for the hearing and the prosecutor had described the crime as ‘one of the most heinous in the world’ adding: ‘He acted in an unprecedented way. He asked to have sessions with the psychologist after he had committed the crime and he didn’t shed a single tear.’
Lydia now lives in the Philippines with her half sister, where Susan is from, while David is in the process of selling his home in Greece.
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