So cold-blooded9
Caroline’s killer husband ‘is a monster who cradled their baby at funeral’
FRIENDS of murder victim Caroline Crouch blasted her husband as a “cold-blooded monster” last night after he confessed to suffocating her.
Killer Babis Anagnostopoulos, 32, was pictured hugging his victim’s heartbroken mum at her daughter’s memorial event on Wednesday.
Just moments later he was arrested by police on the Greek island of Alonnisos, where Brit Caroline, 20 – the mother of his baby daughter Lydia – grew up.
He had also given a speech at his wife’s funeral last month as her weeping loved ones looked on.
One pal told how Caroline’s mother Susan has not been able to face visiting her daughter’s gravestone, decorated with a photo of the victim on her wedding day, since his arrest.
Caroline’s pal Kiki Anagnostou, a former English literature teacher, told the Sunday Mirror: “His behaviour at her funeral was bordering on coldblooded. I remember he held the baby in his arms the whole time.
“He didn’t let anyone else carry her, not for a minute. But nobody suspected him then. The details of the case hadn’t come out.”
Another pal said: “Babis made us all cry with his funeral speech. He looked icy but we thought he was just in shock. He had the baby in his hands for five hours. He is a monster.”
The killer confessed after police confronted him with new evidence disproving his claims that her death was the work of three burglars at their Athens home on May 11.
He alleged that the gang tied up both himself and Caroline, blindfolded him, threatened their baby girl with a gun, strangled his wife and killed the family dog before fleeing with £10,000.
Detectives investigated and a reward for information was offered. But data from a fitness tracker on Caroline’s wrist was found to show that her heart had stopped beating before the “break-in”.
Her husband then admitted that his elaborate story was a lie.
Extracts from Caroline’s diary, containing her accounts of fights with him and unhappiness in their marriage, were yesterday leaked to Greek media.
One from last July read: “Today my little one is a month old. It’s also the day I told Babi I want to leave. I feel awful.”
Caroline added that she thought of leaving even before falling pregnant but stayed as she “didn’t want my daughter to grow up without her parents”. A witness statement by her mum was yesterday made public. Filipino Susan, who owns a cleaning firm, told police: “I still can’t believe what happened.
“She never complained to me of being tired or having problems. They met on Alonnisos when she was about 16. They had met through common friends.
“Eleven months ago she gave birth to Lydia. Since then every day she was so happy and blissful, telling me that she was having a great time.”
A family friend said Susan had been visiting her daughter’s tomb, just yards from the family home and overlooking the Aegean Sea, up to three times a day.
But the pal added: “She hasn’t done so at all since the arrest on Wednesday. She can’t believe how Babis has betrayed her and their family. She’s in shock.”
Helicopter pilot Anagnostopoulos told police that he wanted to make “a great apology to the people I hurt” – then acknowledged it will have “very little value for those who have been deprived”.
He claimed to have suffocated Caroline accidently during an argument then plotted a cover-up in bid to ensure Lydia did not lose both parents.
The killing of the pet, he said, was to make the rest “look plausible, as no one would have thought I could harm a dog”.