A Greek pilot wrote an explosive confession letter admitting to the murder of his British wife to silence her over his drugs racket, the victim’s father has claimed.
Babis Anagnostopoulos, 35, suffocated Caroline Crouch and their pet dog in front of their baby daughter Lydia in a fake burglary.
He was jailed for life last summer but now his father-in-law, David Crouch, has claimed the wife-killer detailed his crime in a typed letter.
Anagnostopoulos allegedly transported drugs in his helicopter for a local gang but tried to get out after confessing to Miss Crouch, who threatened to leave him.
Greek pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos (pictured centre being escorted by police officers in Athens, May 2022) wrote an explosive confession letter admitting to the murder of his British wife to silence her over his drugs racket, the victim’s father has claimed
Babis Anagnostopoulos (right), 34, was jailed for life for suffocating 20-year-old Caroline Crouch (left) to death at their home in a suburb of the Greek capital Athens on May 11 2021
The criminals then told the pilot he would have to silence his wife after he let slip that she knew – so he killed Miss Crouch fearing if he didn’t he too would be killed.
Lawyers for Anagnostopoulos dismissed the claims as ‘fake’ and part of manoeuvres ahead of their client’s appeal of his murder sentence later this year.
But Mr Crouch, 79, who lives on the Greek island of Alonissos, insists he has a typed letter in ‘very good English’.
He told Greek TV station Ant1: ‘I tell you why he murdered Caroline in front of his child.
‘He was involved with a drug gang. There was a restaurant that Caroline and Babis used to go to and the man there who owned the restaurant was involved in drugs.
‘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 paid a lot of money.’ He continued: ‘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.
Anagnostopoulos (right) was jailed for life last summer but now his father-in-law, David Crouch, has claimed the wife-killer detailed his crime in a typed letter
‘So, he told the people, the gang, that he couldn’t do it 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.’
‘They said, ‘Well, 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.’
Mr Crouch added: ‘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.’
He admitted the letter is not signed, but insisted: ‘If you speak to his mother, she’ll tell you what the truth is.’ It is the latest twist in the shocking murder of 19-year-old Miss Crouch at their villa in Alonissos in May 2021.
Anagnostopoulos tied himself up after strangling both his wife and five-month-old dog, Roxy, before telling police they had been attacked by Albanian criminals.
He wept crocodile tears in a service at a hilltop cemetery on his wife’s home island of Alonissos, hugging her distraught mother, Susan.
But Greek police unravelled his deception and Anagnostopoulos was given 16 years for killing his wife, and 11-and-a-half years for killing their dog and perverting the course of justice.
Mr and Mrs Crouch, 58, won custody of their two-year-old granddaughter Lydia who is now living with family in Mrs Crouch’s native Philippines.
Anagnostopoulos allegedly transported drugs in his helicopter for a local gang but tried to get out after confessing to Miss Crouch, who threatened to leave him
But Anagnostopoulos’s parents are appealing the decision – and believe they should have custody of the child.
Mr Crouch, a retired engineer from Liverpool, said: ‘I don’t think it is right that Lydia should grow up with the parents of the man who murdered her mother.’ Explaining how she is growing up in the Philippines, he said: ‘Oh she is very, very happy there.
‘My stepdaughter has three of her own children and she plays with them continuously.
‘She calls my stepdaughter 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.’ But Lydia does not yet know what happened to her mother. ‘At the moment she doesn’t think her mother was murdered,’ he said.
‘She just thinks her mother has died – she doesn’t really understand death.
‘We have never spoken about her father at all she has never asked about her father and so we have never spoken about it.’
Responding to the allegations over a confession letter, Alexandros Papaioannidis, for Anagnostopoulos, told the Mail: ‘All this is fake and I think this is a move from the father only for the appeal.’