05 January 2023 , 13:55
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The imprisoned Greek pilot who brutally murdered British mum Caroline Crouch did so to cover his tracks as a drugs runner, her father has claimed.
David Crouch made the explosive claim as he broke his silence on Greek TV saying: “I’ll tell you why he murdered Caroline in front of his child … he was involved with a drugger’s gang.”
The 79-year-old retired engineer told the ANT1 channel that his former son-in-law, Babis Anagnostopoulos, had even explained why he killed his wife – and Caroline’s pet husky Roxy - in a typewritten letter.
“Babis wrote me a letter. Yes he did, and he told his mother as well. If you speak to his mother she’ll tell you what the truth is.”
According to Crouch, who lives with Caroline’s Filipinna-born mother on the Greek island of Alonissos where their daughter is buried, the pilot killed the teenager after she discovered he was trafficking drugs.
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He murdered British woman Caroline Crouch (Babis Anagnostopoulos/Instagram)In a bid to ensure he was never found out, the 34-year-old then concocted the story, that he maintained for nearly six weeks, that the 19-year-old mum had been the victim of a botched burglary.
“There was a restaurant that Caroline and Babis used to go to and the man there who owned the restaurant was involved in drugs,” the Briton said.
“He spoke to Babis and he told him that the gang he was involved in needed a helicopter pilot and it was one job for which he’d be paid a lot of money … Babis was very stupid.
"Instead of keeping his mouth shut he told Caroline.
"Now Caroline was a very honest person and said she would not have anything to do with it and if he continued with this drug business she would leave immediately and go to the Philippines.”
Leaving court and being transferred to Koridallos jail in June of last year (Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)When the gang learned that Anagnostopoulos had admitted the drug running racket to the young Briton, he was told he would have to make sure sure she didn’t spill the beans, Crouch’s father claimed.
“So he told the people, the gang, that he couldn’t do [the job] and they asked him why and I just told you how stupid he is, he said: ‘I told my wife and, she said, if I continue doing it she is going to leave me’ and they said you can’t tell your wife, you have got to keep her quiet, if she believes you she’ll always know this and one day she is going to talk and so we will have to get rid of her,” he told the Greek channel.
“And so in the end he killed her. That was the only reason he killed her because he thought if he didn’t, both he and Caroline would be killed by the drug gang.”
Crouch, who was attacked as she slept, appeared to put up a fight before she was fatally smothered by Anagnostopoulos. A coroner’s report described her death as both slow and agonising saying it took at least five minutes before she died at his hands.
The pilot, who was handed a 26-year sentence for murdering his wife, killing their pet dog and perverting the course of justice, had pinned the blame for the crime on Caroline’s “dangerous outbursts”.
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He told judges in May last year that a late night row had preceded her death. His appeal against the sentence takes place in Athens next month.
Anagnostopoulos has been handed a 26-year sentence for murdering his wife (Babis Anagnostopoulos/Instagram)Anagnostopoulous’ lawyer Alexandros Papaioannou claimed that what Mrs Crouch's father was saying did "not reflect reality".
“He has his own motives for saying such things," the lawyer claimed.
But Crouch, who also described the convicted Greek murderer as a coward for attacking his daughter as she slept, insisted that he had confessed to what had really happened in a letter “written in very good English but not signed.”
Caroline’s parents have vowed to give their granddaughter, Lydia, the best life with David describing the “wonderful little girl” as being very bright and reminding him of his own daughter when she was young.
The retired gas executive told Ant 1 that the toddler, who is now nearly three years old, had no understanding of death and still did not know what had happened to her mother.
Anagnostopoulos' parents are currently fighting for custody of the child with a hearing scheduled for January 17th.
“I don’t think it is right that Lydia should grow up with the parents of the man who murdered her mother,” said Crouch who revealed that Lydia was now being brought up in the Philippinesin the care of Caroline’s beloved step sister
“She is very, very happy there. I face time her on a regular basis. She lives with my step daughter who is a famous artist in the Philippines and her husband who is a prominent businessman and they have a lovely house, everything that Lydia could want in life is there for her,” he said.
“My step daughter has three of her own children and she plays with them continuously. She calls my step daughter mummy and her husband daddy and she looks upon the children of my step daughter as brothers and sisters.
"So it would be ridiculous in my opinion to have her stay with the parents of a man that murdered her mother … I don’t want to disturb her because she is so happy there. She is a wonderful little girl. She reminds me exactly of her mother at that age.”