The parents of Caroline Crouch’s husband, who killed her in front of their young daughter, have lost their bid to gain custody of their granddaughter.
Babis Anagnostopoulos, 35, was jailed for life last year for choking the British mother, 20, in front of the couple’s nine-month-old daughter, Lydia, in May 2021.
The Greek pilot also killed Caroline’s beloved dog before carrying out a fake robbery at her home in an upscale Athens suburb.
Nearly two years later, the suit by Anagnostopoulos’s parents for custody of the couple’s daughter, Lydia, has been rejected by an Athens court. Sun reports.
The girl’s Greek grandparents will now have just one hour of access to her “via Skype or other electronic means” each week, the court order states.
Babis Anagnostopoulos (right), 34, was jailed for life for choking to death 20-year-old Caroline Crouch (left) in front of her daughter (center) at their home in Athens on May 11, 2021.
Caroline Crouch’s family lawyer, Thanassis Haramanis, said: “It’s what we wanted in every way.”
‘The girl will now live peacefully with Caroline’s sister and mother, Susan, in the Philippines. Lydia couldn’t be happier there.
The ruling ends attempts by the Anagnostopoulos family to bring Lydia back to Greece.
It comes after Anagnostopoulos launched an appeal last month. to shorten his 27-year sentence.
Speaking as her appeal was launched in Athens, Caroline’s father, David, criticized his son-in-law, saying: “It is absolutely despicable that my daughter’s killer is trying to reduce her prison sentence because of her ‘good behaviour’.”
‘The crime committed by the murderer, that of femicide, is a heinous crime that should deserve a particularly severe penalty. In my opinion, men who kill their wives, for whatever reason, are the lowest of the low, next to pedophiles.
“I think it will be a sad day for women when the murderer of a defenseless woman who slept with her son serves less than his full prison sentence. This man is beyond contempt.
Anagnostopoulos’ legal team argues that extenuating circumstances were not taken into account in the original trial and that he only reacted violently because “Caroline had pushed Lydia” and he was “concerned” about his daughter.
Georgia Gobaridou (L) the mother of Charalambos (Babis) Anagnostopoulos with Susan Dela Cuesta (4th from left), the mother of Caroline Crouch at her grave on the island of Alonissos
Caroline’s father, David, criticized his son-in-law, saying: “It is absolutely despicable that my daughter’s killer is trying to reduce her prison sentence because of her ‘good behaviour’.
Anagnostopoulos allegedly transported drugs in his helicopter for a local gang, but tried to get out after confessing to Miss Crouch, who threatened to leave him.
They also say he kept up the false pretense of a robbery for nearly six weeks because he was worried Lydia would be taken away and left with no one to care for her.
Anagnostopoulos also received 11 years when he was sentenced last summer for killing the family’s pet dog, Roxy.
David claimed in January that the pilot wrote an explosive confession letter admitting to the murder of his British wife to silence her about his drug dealing.
In it, he claims, Anagnostopoulos said he had murdered Caroline because she had confessed to him that he was involved in a drug smuggling operation.
Anagnostopoulos allegedly transported drugs in his helicopter for a local gang, but tried to get out after confessing to Miss Crouch, who threatened to leave him.
Greek pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos (in the center of the photo escorted by police officers in Athens, May 2022) wrote an explosive confession letter admitting to the murder of his British wife to silence her for his drug dealing, the woman’s father claimed victim.
The criminals are said to have told the pilot that he would have to silence his wife after he blurted out that she knew, so he killed Caroline fearing that if he didn’t, they would kill him too.
David admitted that the typed letter was not signed and Anagnostopoulos’s lawyers dismissed the claims as “false” and part of maneuvering before his client appealed his murder sentence.
Caroline’s father, a retired engineer from Liverpool, said before the decision on Lydia’s custody was made: “I don’t think it’s right for Lydia to grow up with the parents of the man who murdered her mother.”
Anagnostopoulos’ legal team argues that extenuating circumstances were not considered in the original trial.
Explaining how she’s growing up in the Philippines, he said: ‘Oh, she’s very, very happy there.
‘My stepdaughter has three children of her own and plays with them all the time.
“She calls my stepdaughter mom and her husband dad and sees my stepdaughter’s children as brothers and sisters.
‘So it would be ridiculous, in my opinion, for her to stay with the parents of a man who murdered her mother.
But Lydia still doesn’t know what happened to her mother. At the moment, she does not believe that her mother was murdered, ”she said.
When asked what he would tell Lydia about her parents, David said: ‘How am I going to introduce her? “That’s your father. By the way, he killed your mother and that’s why you don’t see him much. He may look charming, but actually he’s a cheeky weasel.
“Your mother was a professional boxer and had to wait until she fell asleep before attacking her. He’s not the kind of man a little girl would be proud to call a father.”
