Police arrest suspect over murder of Brit mum, 20, during burglary in Greece after he was stopped at border
COPS have arrested a suspect over the murder of a British mum during a burglary in Greece.
Raiders feared to be members of a violent gang strangled Caroline Crouch, 20, and held a gun to her 11-month-old daughter Lydia's head after they tied up her husband Charalambos Anagnostopoulos at their home outside Athens.
A Georgian man has been arrested on the Bulgarian border in relation to the killing, local media reported.
The unnamed man was linked to another break-in at a house near where Caroline was murdered.
A police source said DNA analysis suggested he was involved in tying up an elderly couple during a burglary on March 7.
The suspect was arrested after trying to drive from Greece to Bulgaria on a fake passport.
He was arrested and taken to a local police station.
Officers had earlier "narrowed down" a list of suspects to 30 people, a police source said.
"We're making headway with the inquiry and in the police laboratories based on DNA found at the scene," one cop told The Sun Online.
"The list of suspects has been narrowed down to 30 people."
Mr Anagnostopoulos will be shown mugshots of the 30 suspects after he caught a glimpse of the man as he leapt onto the bed where he was sleeping with his wife.
The killer had been wearing a balaclava to cover his face, but it slipped down as he struggled with Ms Crouch early on Tuesday morning.
Mr Anagnostopoulos described the killer as tall, dark-skinned, overweight and under 30 years old.
Police think the murderer may have been unaware Charalambos saw his face, but murdered Caroline because she did.
Officers have connected 12 break-ins in the past six months around the Greek capital to Ms Crouch's murder, the reported.
There have been at least three other violent burglaries alone in the upmarket Athens neighbourhood where Caroline and Charalambos were attacked by raiders.
Extreme violence, or the threat of such, was used in each of the break-ins, which took place in Glyka Nera the last six months.
They showed stark similarities to the horror at Caroline's home where she was strangled and had a gun pointed at the head of her 11-month-old Lydia.
One, in December, saw four men break into a house in nearby Chalandri and drag a woman by her hair and threaten to slit her throat.
The gang made off with jewellery and £8,000 in cash - much like the robbery at Caroline's home which saw £20,000 worth of jewellery and £10,000 in banknotes stolen.
Four men were involved in both incidents, and they entered the properties through back windows.
Lieutenant Theodoros Chronopoulos, spokesman of the Hellenic Police, said new data and leads were emerging "every day".
"There is a lot of material to be investigated. Fingerprints, DNA, witness accouts, surveillance, CCTV footage, it is all being studied,"; he said.
"This is an ongoing inquiry and nothing can be ruled out."
Cops think Caroline could have been killed because she caught a glimpse of the criminals' features and they feared she would report them to police, local media reported.
A source close to the murder investigation said the attackers may have "taken fright" at the brave fight Caroline put up before she was tragically killed.
He then added "the DNA we now have may provide the answers".
Detectives are following multiple lines of enquiry regarding the ethnicity of the gang behind the horror attack - following earlier claims they were thought to be Albanian.
"There are two units involved in the inquiry following different leads," one well-placed cop revealed.
"We are also working on the premise of the gang being ethnically mixed. Albanians, Georgians and Greeks may all have been involved. Organised crime knows no frontiers."
Officers described seeing Caroline's body tied to a pole where the intruders had tortured her in the family's attic bedroom, .
Baby Lydia was "half on her, screaming and hitting her mother with her hands to wake her up".
Charalambos was tied up with rope "like a sausage" and also handcuffed, with insulating tape over his eyes and mouth, reports said.
He is believed to have suffered hypoxia - a potentially fatal lack of oxygen - before wriggling free and calling police using his nose.
Police said he would have suffocated to death had it not been for one small detail.
After blindfolding and gagging him, the gang left him with a small field of vision meaning he could see what was happening around him.
It meant that when the invaders left he could find his way to his nightstand and call for help.
Cops said he suffered mini fainting episodes and if it had been any longer he would have died.
'BEGGED FOR THEIR LIVES'
Charalambos told investigators he begged for their lives as the brutal thieves held a gun to the baby's head and demanded to know where they kept their cash and jewels.
Officers suspect the gang may have been tipped off that the couple had significant amounts of cash stashed in the house, hidden in a Monopoly box, to pay builders after they bought a plot of land.
They also think the gang could have been high on drugs as they showed signs of going for robbery and not murder, and could not control their actions.
The three robbers forced their way into the family's two-storey house at 4.30am after breaking a CCTV camera and hanging the family's dog by its own lead.
A fourth criminal kept watch outside the home as the other three found the couple sleeping with their child in an attic bedroom.
A police spokesperson told the local news outlet The Dawn that cops believe the suspects, masked and armed with pistols, broke into the house through a window in the basement after spending several hours observing the family.
DNA samples are being collected from the couple's clothes and Caroline's fingernails, which could lead them to the gang after preliminary analysis showed evidence of her frantic struggle.
Caroline - a black belt kickboxer - fought back against her torturers.
Helicopter pilot Charalambos paid tribute to his "wonderful" wife in an emotional eulogy at Caroline's funeral.
He told mourners he is heartbroken that their daughter now faces the agony of growing up not remembering her mother.
He was pictured clutching little Lydia in his arms as he walked from an aircraft to a car waiting to take him to the service.
Paying tribute to Caroline, he said: "I was lucky that I met you, very lucky that you loved me and even more lucky that you are the mother of my child.
"Lydia will grow up not remembering her wonderful mother, but Caroline, who was the joy of life, will always be near me, through Lydia."
Local mayor Petros Vafinis told The Sun Online: "Caroline was much loved and we are as shocked here as everyone in Greece by this horrible crime."
Her grieving mother, Susan Dela Cuesta, sobbed as she joined the family of widowed Charalambos to pray at her graveside after she was laid to rest.
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Caroline was raised on Alonissos where her British dad, David, had built a dream villa after falling in love with the island.
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The former gas and oil executive had previously lived in Athens where he met Susan, a teacher.
Caroline moved to the island when she was a little girl, attending the local Greek school and joining the girl scouts.
