The Greek pilot who has confessed to killing his British wife reportedly may have had accomplices — as new video has emerged of him cradling their baby daughter before the 20-year-old woman was strangled to death.
Authorities investigating the shocking crime said “the case is not over” despite getting a confession from Babis Anagnostopoulos, 33, who appeared in court Tuesday amid shouts of “Rot in prison!” from a crowd outside, the Sun reported.
Police spokesman Apostolos Skrekas confirmed that investigators have not ruled out that accomplices aided and abetted the crime against 20-year-old Caroline Crouch.
Thanassis Katerinopoulos, a retired brigadier who leads the union of Greek police officers, told Alpha TV: “There is more to this and authorities must go all the way to the end.”
He also said it was wrong to assume the murder was motivated by jealousy and an “argument,” adding that investigators were looking into a mysterious trip to Crete in April — and that two vital pieces of information have emerged.
“No one kills out of jealousy. There was a plan,” Katerinopoulos said, suggesting that Crouch may have found out about activities her husband was involved with that she disagreed with.
Katerinopoulos did not elaborate on what the two new pieces of information were or what activities Anagnostopoulos may have been involved in.
“The case is not over. A man has been arrested. He has confessed … the investigating magistrate has a lot of work,” the police union chief said.
“There may be an accomplice on other levels, at other times … let’s not think of this only as about jealousy and a little argument,” he continued.
“There is a second curtain that authorities must see. The first curtain is we caught the culprit. He’ll go to prison. Is there a second curtain? In my view, there is, yes. How many are involved?” he said.
“In the murder, there is only one person, the culprit, but I believe there are others in another system which drove him to the murder of his wife for other reasons.”
Meanwhile, chilling footage has emerged of Anagnostopoulos sitting on a couch and cradling 11-month-old Lydia as he furiously messaged his wife, the Sun reported, citing Greek news outlet Proto Thema.
About an hour later, the pilot approached the video camera in the living room and removed the memory card — proving it was not destroyed by alleged burglars, as he had previously claimed.
The couple continued to argue via text for another two hours and 40 minutes while Crouch was in the attic, according to the report.
Crouch’s biometric watch later recorded an intense pulse stimulation when he began attacking her in front of their daughter, the Sun reported. She fought him for some 10 minutes until her watch recorded that her heart had stopped.
Anagnostopoulos then sickeningly placed Lydia next to her mother’s body in a bid to create a more convincing crime scene, investigators said. He also drowned their puppy and hanged its body from a railing to blame fictional Albanian criminals whom police had been pursuing, according to the outlet.
Crouch died hours before her husband suggested she must have been killed — allowing him time to stage the robbery by throwing clothes around and ransacking their home, the Sun reported.
She had reportedly messaged a friend on the night of her death, saying she was leaving her husband. Data from her phone also showed she had tried to book herself into a hotel with her daughter, police said.
Anagnostopoulos 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 judgment became blurred, I strangled her and then I staged the robbery,” he reportedly said.
On Tuesday morning, Anagnostopoulos showed no emotion when he arrived in court while wearing a bulletproof vest and was led past a crowd that shouted, “Rot in prison,” the Sun reported.
One of his lawyers announced that he has quit the case, citing “personal reasons” without elaborating further, the UK’s Metro reported.
The slain woman’s parents, Susan and David Crouch, vowed to care for their daughter.
“Both Susan and I will spend the rest of our lives making sure that justice is done and ensuring that her little daughter Lydia is brought up with all the advantages that we can give her and that the memories of her mother live forever,” David Crouch, 78, told the Daily Mail.
But the grieving couple could face a custody battle from Lydia’s paternal grandparents, the news outlet reported.
A Greek court is expected to make a ruling in 90 days, according to Proto Thema.
