The father of a British woman killed by her husband in Greece has described learning about her death as like “an icy hand had reached into my chest and grabbed my heart”.
Caroline Crouch, 20, was killed by her husband Babis Anagnostopoulos,33, at their home outside Athens in May.
David Crouch, 78, said that he was “virtually paralysed” when he was told about his daughter’s killing.
He described Mr Anagnostopoulous as a “consumate actor”, adding that he had felt “huge sympathy” when he saw him on the day of Ms Crouch’s funeral.
“I have seldom seen a person so consumed with grief as he was that day,” he told the Daily Mail.
“When I spoke to him later I got the impression that it was a tragedy from which he would never recover. What a consummate actor he turned out to be.
“I don’t want to speculate on what motive he had; that is for the police to determine.”
Mr Crouch and his wife, Susan, are now looking after their one-year-old granddaughter, Lydia, who was found crying next to her mother’s body after she was killed.
Mr Anagnostopoulos, a helicopter pilot, initially told police that Ms Crouch, a British national who grew up in Greece, had been killed during an invasion of the couple’s home.
He made statements hours after the killing, telling reporters they had been tied up by robbers who broke into their home in Glyka Nera.
However, detectives used his phone’s step counter to confirm that he had been moving around the property.
However, he denies that it was a premeditated murder and faces a trial on that point.
“I only want justice for my beautiful daughter who was killed in a most cowardly act,” Mr Crouch said.
“He knew that he was no match for her physically. She was young, fit and an accomplished kickboxer, so he took the memory card out of the internal CCTV system and suffocated her while she slept.”
