Haunting last footage shows Caroline Crouch’s killer husband cradling baby daughter moments before he strangled her
CHILLING CCTV footage has emerged which shows Caroline Crouch’s killer husband cradling their baby daughter shortly before he strangled the 20-year-old to death.
The video shows Babis Anagnostopoulos, 33, sitting on the couch and cuddling his 11-month-old daughter Lydia, while furiously typing on his mobile phone.
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Anagnostopoulos, 33, last week confessed to strangling his wife to death after she vowed to leave the family home with her baby.
After the killing on May 11, he claimed Crouch had been the victim of a gang who broke into their house in Glyka Nera, Athens.
A chilling timeline has emerged that saw him stage an elaborate crime scene in a bid to trick cops into believing a gang of thugs had raided the home.
He reportedly told cops his "judgement became blurred" after rowing with Caroline in the hours leading up to her death.
He said that he killed her in a fit of rage after she threatened to take their daughter away.
"I did not want to go to prison, because I wanted to raise my daughter," the 33-year-old was said to have told detectives.
But it seems the helicopter pilot calculated his next moves after police revealed it was Babis who removed the memory card in the security camera of the maisonette the couple shared.
In the final recorded moments, he can be seen sitting on the couch cradling his 11-month-old daughter Lydia, while ferociously typing on his mobile phone at around 12.30am, Greek news outlet reports.
He was exchanging angry messages with Caroline, who was in the attic, with one calling the other "stupid", officers revealed.
Just under an hour later, at 1.20am, Babis approached the CCTV recording device in the living room and removed the memory card — proving it was not destroyed by the alleged robbers on their way in as he had previously claimed.
The pair continued to viciously argue over text for another two hours and 40 minutes, the publication reported.
CAROLINE CROUCH MURDER TIMELINE
12.35 am - Babis is seen on the living room CCTV camera with daughter Lydia, texting Caroline who is in the attic
1.20 am - Babis removes CCTV memory cards causing camera blackout and for the next two hours the couple exchange abusive text messages
4.00 am - Caroline's smartwatch shows intense pulse stimulation
4.11 am - Pulses detected on Caroline's smartwatch stop
6am - Babis calls police reporting a robbery at the couple's home
At 4.01am, Caroline's biometric watch that she wore on her wrist recorded an intense pulse stimulation.
It was at that moment that Babis began attacking his wife, in front of their infant daughter, as Caroline struggled against the man 13 years her senior.
The brave Brit then fought against him for a further ten minutes, until her watch recorded that her heart had stopped beating at 4.11am in the morning.
Babis then sickeningly placed their daughter next to her late mother in a bid to create a more convincing crime scene, police said.
Caroline died hours before the time Babis suggested she must have been murdered, allowing him time to stage the robbery by throwing clothes and ransacking the house.
Caroline had allegedly messaged a pal on the night of her death, telling them she was leaving Babis.
Data from her phone also showed that the young mum had tried to book herself into a hotel with her daughter, detectives said.
To substantiate his sick charade, Babis drowned their pet Husky puppy and hanged its body from a stair banister in a bid to blame the fictional Albanian criminals cops have been chasing for weeks.
According to reports, Babis eventually broke down during an eight-hour interrogation, saying: "That night we had been arguing from early on.
"At some point she threw the child in her cot and she told me to get up and leave the house.
"She pushed me and punched me. My judgement became blurred, I strangled her, and then I staged the robbery."
Sources told local media Caroline had told Babis she was leaving him and he flew into a violent rage.
Other important evidence that disrupted his timeline of the alleged botched robbery includes an app on Babis' phone that measured his steps, which showed repeated movement at the time he claimed to be bound by the raiders.
Babis had earlier said he lost consciousness for up to 30 minutes due to the constriction of the tape tied around his neck.
But data also appeared to show he was active on his mobile during the time he was allegedly tied to the bed.
Police have described him as a "top class actor" after staging the detailed crime scene and keeping up the facade of the grieving widower for over a month.
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A Greek public prosecutor is to decide the fate of baby Lydia it was announced Friday as the pilot appeared in court to face charges.
The 11-month old girl is crrebtly belived to be staying with Anagnostopoulos' architect father and teacher mother.
The prosecutor will decide "immediately" whether Caroline's family home on Alonissos would be a better environment for the little girl to grow up in.
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It comes as Caroline family are reportedly looking to remove a wedding image on her gravestone in a bid to erase all memory of her killer husband.
Currently the image shows the young mum, who was suffocated by husband Babis Anagnostopoulos, with a bouquet of flowers and the inscription: "Our beloved mother, wife and daughter".
HOW YOU CAN GET HELP:
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a . from 10am to noon.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.