Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34, is accused of killing his 20-year-old wife in front of their daughter, before telling police he was killed in a robbery. 5 Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34 years old, attending a court in AthensCredit: LNP 5 Caroline, 20, was found murdered at her home in Glyka Nera The British mom was found murdered at her home in Athens in the early hours of May 12, 2021. Police found Anagnostopoulos handcuffed to the floor near Caroline and had adhesive tape on his eyes and mouth. The UK-trained pilot continued his parody, claiming the couple had been targeted by an Albanian gang and pretending not to know about his wife’s death, according to a court. After being released, the 34-year-old even pierced Caroline’s body and asked “my love, are you okay?”. Christos Varnikos, the chief police officer in the investigation, said it had become apparent that the UK-trained pilot was pretending as soon as he was released. He told the judges: “When the accused was released, he sat on the bed and started touching the woman … he motivated her and asked her ‘my love, are you okay?’ “He made some moves, he looked like he was in shock and he asked me to let the child hug him.” Anagnostopoulos had previously told a court that he “still loves” Caroline in an attempt to avoid a murder charge. Standing for the first time in the defendant’s chair, as the hearing officially began in Athens, the 34-year-old insisted that everything took place “in the heat” and claimed that he “still loves his wife”. Asked if he accepted the charges against him now, which include premeditated murder, he told the three-member court: “I never intended to harm my wife. I loved her and I still love her. “That has not changed and will never change, since the day I met her.” When the presiding judge told him that the murder took place in the “heat of the moment”, as he claimed, he replied: “I say this, it was never premeditated, I had no benefit or gain from it. pretend.”
The pilot of the helicopter has spent months preparing for the court hearing, signaling that he will take responsibility for Crouch’s “narcissistic aggressive behavior”.
As news of his defense reached the small crowd gathered outside the mixed jury, a young woman who described herself as a “Caroline supporter” exclaimed: “You see, a top-notch actress, as police said. that it was. ” In May, Anagnostopoulos continued the parody, weeping for reporters, visiting the grave of his wife with their daughter, Lydia, and consoling Caroline’s devastated parents. Police became suspicious when his story began to crumble during an eight-hour interrogation before he was finally arrested on June 17, after allegedly making a shocking confession. Since then, he is being held in the Korydallos prison, the highest security in the country, and he arrived today in the court of Athens for his trial.

“STRANGE BEHAVIOR”

A total of fourteen prosecution witnesses are lined up to take a stand. The first, police officer Kleanthis Antonopoulos, told the court that investigators who entered the house on May 11 considered from the beginning that the pilot’s behavior was “strange”. What made the biggest impression on the investigators was Anagnostopoulos’ “calmness and lack of understanding of the situation”. “It simply came to our notice then [as odd] when he said he had called [the police] using his nose when he was tied with his hands in front of him “. The policeman added: “It seemed as if he did not understand what had happened. It looked like he was in a state of shock.
“He did not cry when I told him his wife was dead and he asked me if she could keep the child.” Antonopoulos added that the pilot trained in the United Kingdom shook the child “as if he were a doll” and said that “he had never seen such a reaction”. When a second police officer was called to take a stand, he also described the accused as “incredibly calm”. “I have never seen such calm, such composure. It was quiet in a way I have never seen before,” he said.

“INCREDIBLY CALM”

Police were also beaten when Anagnostopoulos showed almost no emotion when he saw the couple’s dog Roxy hanging from the banner. The couple’s neighbor Angeliki Gerolymatou described the 34-year-old as a controlled husband who had isolated his young wife and often left her alone for hours. “Caroline stayed at home, waiting for her husband to come and go shopping. “She did nothing. She told me several times that she had no money on her.” Asked if she thought the pilot was capable of killing his wife, he said: “No; the only thing that struck me was that whenever we talked on the phone and her husband came, he would say ‘I have to call, I have to call’.” “She was worried.” The trial was set to begin on Friday, but the trial has been suspended until today. Last week, Anagnostopoulos was taken to the building of the Mixed Jury Court in Athens, where there was a strong police presence due to the crowd gathered outside. A police officer told Sun Online: “We hoped they would hide him early, but we did not understand that the media would be here then.”
As Anagnostopoulos gave his details to the court, he declared “married and widowed”. 5 The pilot was wearing a face mask and a black suit as he arrived in courtCredit: EPA 5 Caroline was a British woman who grew up in GreeceCredit: Social Media – See source According to witnesses, he was not intimidated and looked the prosecutor “in the eye, cool, without expression” as his accusations of premeditated murder, false police report and murder of the family dog ​​were read aloud. After allegedly confessing to the police, the father later said he regretted his actions and would try to prove that the murder was not premeditated in an attempt to avoid the sentence of life imprisonment. He then told police: “I did not want to go to prison, because I wanted to raise my daughter,” the 33-year-old reportedly told detectives. Speaking to Sun Online ahead of the trial, the Krauts family’s lawyer, Thanassis Charamanis, said: “The perpetrator of this crime has already shown that he will do everything to reduce his sentence. “That is his goal and we will see it played out in court. But we are confident and optimistic that justice will be done. He will not be able to hide.” Caroline was a British woman who grew up in Greece and started dating Anagnostopoulos when she was a teenager, and eventually married him. Last May, Caroline was reportedly strangled in front of her 11-month-old daughter at her home in a luxury suburb of Athens. Police found Caroline’s lifeless body next to her crying daughter – who was not injured – later that morning. A police spokesman said he found Anagnostopoulos handcuffed to the floor near Caroline and had adhesive tape on his eyes and mouth. The family husky was also strangled with its own lead and left in a fence. Anagnostopoulos told police he was “begging” the intruders who, he claimed, broke into the house so as not to harm his family. He then allegedly staged an elaborate failed robbery, placing baby Lydia next to her dead mother’s body, drowning the dog before hanging his body from the stairs and rubbish in the house. 5 Accused of killing British mom Caroline CrouchCredit: Social Media – See source

How you can get help

Women’s Aid has these tips for victims and their families:

Always have your phone close by. Contact charities for help, including Women’s Aid Live Chat Helpline and services such as SupportLine. If you are in danger, call 999. Familiarize yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without talking on the phone, instead of calling “55”. Always have some money on you, including switching to a paid phone or bus fare. If you suspect that your partner is going to attack you, try going to a lower-risk area of ​​the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone. Avoid kitchens and garages, where knives or other weapons may be present. Avoid rooms where you may be trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you may be locked in a closet or other small space.

If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6pm. until 8 p.m. at 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open on weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected] Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available daily from 8 am-6pm. and on weekends 10 a.m.-6 p.m. You can also call the 24-Hour Free Home Abuse Helpline at 0808 2000 247.