Caroline Crouch’s father says he ‘would take it as an honour’ to execute her killer

The father of murdered Caroline Crouch has blasted his daughter’s killer and said he would be “honored to execute him” if Greece still had the death penalty.

Heartbroken David Crouch, 79, spoke with self-pity about his 27-year sentence for the murder of Caroline, 19, at her Greek home in May 2021 ahead of Babis Anagnostopoulos’ appeal.

He will argue that he killed her because he was “concerned she would hurt her then nine-month-old daughter Lydia” and his prison sentence should be reduced on extenuating circumstances.

Anagnostopoulos, 35, was convicted last year after strangling Caroline at the couple’s home in an upscale Athens suburb. He then lied to the police, saying she was killed “by burglars” before his web of lies fell apart.

According to his Anagnostopoulos legal team, his shameless appeal will argue that he did not want to murder Caroline and reacted during an argument because he was afraid she would hurt Lydia.

Heartbroken David Crouch, 79, has spoken out in self-pity for his 27-year sentence for the murder of Caroline (left), 19, at her home in Athens, ahead of the appeal of Babis Anagnostopoulos (right) in May 2021. Anagnostopoulos will argue that he killed his young wife because he “feared she would hurt their then nine-month-old daughter Lydia (centre)”

Anagnostopoulos (pictured escorted by police in May last year), 35, was convicted last year after strangling Caroline at the couple’s home in an upmarket Athens suburb. He then lied to the police, saying she was killed “by burglars” before his web of lies fell apart

Led by new lawyer Alexandros Papaioannidis – whom Anagnostopoulos fired last year but has now reinstated – they will argue he deserves a lighter sentence.

It is understood they will say he was a “model prisoner and helped other inmates” while serving his time in Korydallos prison.

But in a furious attack, Mr Crouch described him as a “terrible b**tard” and said: “If the death penalty were still available here (in Greece) I would feel honored to be able to pull the handle sending him into oblivion.”

“I hate him more than I ever have in my life. May he burn in hell.”

Ahead of the appeal, Mr Papaioannidis told MailOnline: “Not a day goes by that my client doesn’t regret what happened, but what he wants and what we want for him is justice. He’s not denying what happened, but we’re asking for a reduced sentence.

“Every day in prison he thinks about what happened and how much he hates himself, his only thoughts are of his daughter.

“All he wants is a fair trial and the extenuating circumstances of what happened at the time of Caroline’s death will be taken into account.

“He is not a narcissist and accepts the court decisions as he has been a model inmate in prison since his conviction and he helps out with other inmates and has been very well behaved and we will explain all of this in court.”

He also hit back at suggestions from Caroline’s father that Anagnostopoulos, a helicopter pilot, killed Caroline because she found out he was a drug smuggler.

Mr Papaioannidis said: “No evidence supporting this allegation was surfaced during the trial and no evidence was found during the investigation and he was never prosecuted for similar crimes. He has had an impeccable 11-year career as a helicopter pilot. We respect Caroline’s father’s grief but categorically deny these claims.’

But Mr Crouch has painted a very different picture of his late daughter’s husband, saying that he and his wife Susana have learned since their deaths that Anagnostopoulos controls their finances and movements.

“To give you an idea of ​​what my daughter’s killer is like, let me tell you what Susana and I found out about the way he treated Caroline,” Mr. Crouch said.

“When Caroline first left home to attend the University of Piraeus, Susana and I each gave her a monthly allowance of €750 for food, rent etc. Within a year she married, stopped attending classes and lived with them her husband together.

“Since I had few other commitments, I continued to pay her a monthly allowance of €750 and Susana reduced her contribution from €750 to €250 per month.

Led by new lawyer Alexandros Papaioannidis – whom Anagnostopoulos fired last year but has now reinstated – they will argue he deserves a lighter sentence for his wife’s murder

Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Crouch has painted a very different picture of his late daughter’s husband than was being urged by his lawyer, saying that he and his wife Susana have learned since their deaths that Anagnostopoulos controls their finances and movements

“We did this because we thought it would be nice if Caroline could have some degree of independence from her husband and not have to keep asking him for money to buy clothes and other personal items.

“We found that Susanas and I had her death money confiscated from Caroline’s bank account from her husband every month and that every time she needed money to buy a coffee or to buy food for her pets, she had to ask her husband for.” this money,” her father said.

“All domestic purchases were controlled by him, they always shopped together and she was never allowed to shop alone.

“Occasionally, she was allowed to meet up with a friend for coffee, but he arranged for her to go to the rendezvous in a cab driven by his friend and prepaid by him. When it was time to come home she had to phone him to pick her up,’ Mr Crouch said.

“It’s a mystery to me how she tolerated this arrangement. Caroline has always been a strong-willed girl with a fixed idea and would never allow herself to be bullied.”

The sneaky Anagnostopoulos cruelly strangled Caroline and then covered up her death for six weeks – insisting she had been murdered by burglars who even strangled her dog Roxy.

But dogged detective work uncovered his lies after details on Caroline’s smartwatch didn’t match what her sneaky husband told Greek police, and he was arrested after he flew to Alonissos island for his wife’s funeral.

Mr Crouch added: “Following the death of my daughter, Susana and Caroline’s husband escorted her body back to Alonissos for burial and I had never seen a man so broken with grief.

“Although I was completely devastated by the death of my daughter, I realized that his grief was even greater than mine, something I didn’t think was possible.

“We held hands in my house, tears streaming down both faces, utterly heartbroken. After the funeral he returned to Athens with his parents and Lydia.’

But Liverpool-born Mr Crouch, a retired engineer, soon began to distrust his son-in-law.

He told MailOnline: “In the interval between the funeral and Caroline’s memorial service, I had occasional disturbing thoughts.

“I noticed there was something odd about the whole thing, just little things that didn’t make sense. Why would the robbers kill my daughter before leaving after stealing all the valuables and money in the house?

“How did they know about the internal CCTV system and how were they turned on enough to consider removing the memory card from the system?

‘I next saw Caroline’s husband on the morning of Caroline’s memorial service. He was still depressed, a picture of misery, but he hugged me and the tears started streaming down his face again, his voice choking with emotion.

“He told me he brought me a present and unwrapped a huge framed photo of himself and Caroline taken at their wedding in Portugal.

“I was very moved by this kind gift, which he knew was my favorite picture. Then I noticed that he was wearing the expensive Rolex watch that he was so proud of.

“He then sold this watch to a dealer for around €7,500. I knew then that either the robbery had been committed by utterly incompetent people or that there was something wrong with his story.

Sneaky Anagnostopoulos (pictured outside the couple’s home in Athens in May 2021) cruelly strangled Caroline and then covered up her death for six weeks – insisting she had been murdered by burglars who even strangled her dog Roxy

“The picture became much clearer an hour later when two tall police officers led him away from the cemetery to a waiting helicopter, ostensibly to identify a suspect who had been arrested in Athens.

“You didn’t have to be an expert on body language to realize that the cops who took him away didn’t gently herd him to his VIP van, but took away the man they suspected of murdering his wife.”

It emerged earlier this year that Lydia had moved to the Philippines – where Mr Crouch’s wife is from – and he told MailOnline she was now living with Caroline’s half-sister Donna.

He said: “Lydia happily settled there. All of her cousins, like all Filipinos, have straight black hair – it sets her apart from the crowd and gets a lot of attention – which she enjoys.”

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk