The Times - UK (2022-04-13)

28 Wednesday April 13 2022 | the times

News

A Greek helicopter pilot who suff-
ocated his British wife as she slept next
to their baby cast himself as a doting
husband incapable of harming her
yesterday as he denied premeditated
murder.
Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, 33,
went on trial in Athens over the death
of Caroline Crouch, 20, the daughter of
a retired oil executive, at their home in
the suburbs of the Greek capital last
year. He is also accused of strangling
their puppy, then faking a robbery and
concocting a story for police.
“I never had any intent to hurt her,”

I loved her, says Greek pilot who killed wife

he told a court yesterday morning. “I

loved her and will continue to do so.”

Anagnostopoulos misled police for

nearly 40 days after his wife’s death in

May, insisting that it was the result of a

botched break-in at their home in Gly-

ka Nera. The pilot was found by police

with his hands tied and his wife dead on

the bed with their daughter. Their pup-

py was found hanging from the banis-

ter, dead. However, as the police gath-

ered evidence, the accused confessed to

killing Crouch. He has since said that he

smothered her in a fit of rage after she

threatened to leave him with their

11-month-old daughter, Lydia.

The police officer first to arrive at the

scene told the court that “from the

start” he did not believe the defendant’s

version of events. “From the moment

we entered the crime scene, there were

signs that something was wrong with

his story,” said Christos Vardikos, one of

14 witnesses due to give evidence.

“Once I cut off the rope around his

hands and legs and stripped off his eyes,

mouth, nose and throat of duct tape, he

seemed to be in a state of panic, gasping

for breath, reaching out to his wife and

then taking his little girl into his arms,”

Vardikos said. “But once he was set free

and we moved away from the bedroom

he turned extremely calm. In the 30

years I have been in the force, I have

never seen someone react so calmly to

the ferocity of such a crime.”

Vardikos added: “As soon as the

defendant was untied, the first thing he

did was sit on the bed, poking the

woman and asked, ‘Honey, are you

okay?’ We told him that it’s over, she is

dead. We could tell. In a chair next to

her, the defendant’s legs and hands

were tied at the front of his body... the

baby was calm and silent.”

After being untied and told Caroline

was dead, Anagnostopoulos asked to

hug his child but police removed her

from his arms because he was “rocking

her too hard... it was better to take the

baby away from him”.

“He just didn’t care,” said Kleanthis

Antonopoulos, the second police

officer to arrive at the crime scene on

May 11. “We escorted him out the room

and took him outside the house and he

seemed calm and indifferent.”

If the prosecution fails to convince

the jury that the murder was premedi-

tated, Anagnostopoulos’s sentence

could be reduced to less than 15 years.

Crouch’s parents have not attended

the trial. Her father has a physical dis-

ability that hampered his ability to trav-

el, the family’s lawyer, Thanassis Hara-

manis, said. Her mother, Susan, was

advised by her therapist not to attend.

The trial continues tomorrow.

Anthee Carassava Athens

Caroline Crouch was found dead at her home in a suburb of Athens last May.

Charalambos Anagnostopoulos initially claimed she died in a botched robbery

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