ATHENS, April 8 — The trial of a Greek man who allegedly killed his British wife and the family dog and then tried to pass it off as a deadly robbery, began Friday nearly a year after the crime that shocked the country.
Liverpool-born Caroline Crouch, 20, had been found dead on May 11 in the attic of the couple’s home in Glyka Nera, a semi-rural suburb northeast of Athens.
She was suffocated on a bed next to her 11-month baby girl, authorities said.
Her husband of less than two years, Babis Anagnostopoulos, a 33-year-old pilot, told police that three men had broken into the house, tying him up and killing his wife before making off with €15,000 (RM68,700) in cash and other valuables.
He also alleged the robbers killed the family dog, who was found hanged from a staircase.
Greece’s police minister Michalis Chrysohoidis said at the time he was shocked by the “barbarity” of the crime and police posted €300,000 reward for information on the perpetrators.
But police were unable to find any trace of the gang.
Anagnostopoulos stuck to his story for weeks, giving regular statements to the media as authorities slowly built a case against him.
He was eventually arrested in June 2021 on the island of Alonissos, where he was attending a memorial service for his slain wife.
Police said he confessed several hours later.
Anagnostopoulos admitted suffocating his wife as she slept, but claimed she was violent and denied the crime was premeditated, police said.
The couple’s daughter has been placed in the care of Crouch’s British father and Philippines-born mother in Alonissos, where she grew up.
Anagnostopoulos faces separate charges for killing the family dog. — AFP
