Brit mum, 20, tortured to death in front of her baby
A BRITISH mother has been tortured and murdered in front of her crying 11-month-old daughter by three men who broke into her home in Greece.
Caroline Crouch, 20, was strangled by the trio after they bound and gagged her husband and forced her to reveal where the couple kept their valuables.
The gang fled with £21,500 in jewellery and £13,000 cash following the attack in Athens yesterday.
Police said the gang – thought to be armed with pistols – broke into the house at around 5am while a fourth member stood guard outside.
They killed the family dog and tied up 33-year-old Babis Anagnostopoulos, a helicopter pilot, before torturing Ms Crouch for an hour and killing her.
Her husband eventually managed to reach a phone and call emergency services, who arrived a short time later.
Athens police spokesman Theodoros Chronopoulos described the attack as a ‘heinous crime, committed with extreme ferocity.’ He said: ‘Such barbarism is rare for Greece.’
The gang disabled a security camera and broke a basement window to get inside the property, where they found the dog downstairs. The pet was strangled using its own leash, before the men made their way upstairs to an attic bedroom where the couple were asleep next to their child.
‘They tied me to a chair and then went on to my wife,’ Mr Anagnostopoulos told police. Ms Crouch, who is trained in martial arts, was strangled with a blouse or pillowcase.
According to social media profiles, the couple met in 2017 and were married in July 2019 in Portugal. Their baby was born in June last year.
Investigators are reviewing CCTV cameras to see how the gang got away.