Caroline Crouch's killer husband loses bid for freedom as he's told he will stay behind bars until 2048
29 September 2023, 22:11 | Updated: 29 September 2023, 22:16
Caroline Crouch's killer has lost his bid for freedom and will remain behind bars until 2048.
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Babis Anagnostopoulos killed the 19-year-old in 2021 and hung her dog then tried to pretend they died in a burglary.
Police found him handcuffed with duct tape on his eyes and mouth in another room, after he had put their baby Lydia next to Crouch.
He hanged their pet husky over a bannister and tied himself up in a bid to make it look like he had been a victim too, claiming intruders suffocated his young British-born wife to death.
But after detectives unravelled his lies he was given 27 years behind bars.
A Greek appeals court confirmed to the 35-year-old on Friday that he will have to serve his sentence until 2048.
Read more: Caroline Crouch's killer sent love letters by twisted fans as prison guards baffled by bags of mail
Anagnostopoulos had launched his bid to get the conviction overturned as he claimed the killings were not premeditated and he had been a "model prisoner".
Crouch met the pilot when she was 15 on Alonnisos island, and married him just days after turning 18.
Read more: Slain mum Caroline Crouch's body to be exhumed in Greece to stop killer from making it a shrine
She suffered a "long and agonising death" at his hands in May 2021, a coroner said previously, as Anagnostopoulos pinned her down and suffocated her with a pillow in their Athens home.
The twisted killer even hugged her mother Susan at a memorial service before detectives got to the truth.
They were helped by Crouch's smart watch, which showed her heart rate climbed when he tried to suffocate her.
Lydia is with Susan in the Philippines. The pilot's parents can speak to her one hour a week over video call.
