Family of man who murdered his wife lose custody battle over their daughter
The parents of a killer who smothered his wife to death in front of their baby have lost their bid to win custody of the little girl, according to reports.
Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34, is serving a life sentence for the murder of British mum Caroline Crouch, 20, at their home in Athens in 2021.
He killed his wife when she threatened to leave him, before drowning the family dog and making up an elaborate story blaming three mystery attackers who ‘made off with £40,000 in cash and jewellery’.
Anagnostopoulos won sympathy by playing the part of the heartbroken husband until detectives found smartwatch data that exposed his web of lies and he confessed during a six-hour interrogation.
Nearly two years after Caroline’s death, a Greek court has decided Anagnostopoulos’s parents will not have custody of the couple’s young daughter, Lydia.
Instead, they have been granted just one hour of access to her ‘via Skype or other electronic means’ each week.
The Crouch family’s lawyer Thanassis Haramanis told The Sun: ‘It is what we wanted in every way.
‘The little girl will now live in peace with Caroline’s sister and mother, Susan, in the Philippines. Lydia could not be more happy there.’
While his family’s attempts to bring Lydia back to Greece have failed, Anagnostopoulos is said to be working on getting his 27-year sentence reduced.
He is apparently hoping that good behaviour will get him out earlier, with his legal team arguing that no mitigating circumstances were taken into account in his trial.
The murderer previously claimed that he ‘lost his temper’ and ‘acted in the heat of the moment’ after a fight with Caroline.
But the Crouch family’s lawyer has vowed they will ‘fight just as we did the first time round’.
Caroline’s Liverpool-born dad, David has slammed his former son-in-law as ‘beyond contempt’.
Speaking to Greek media, he said: ‘It is absolutely despicable that my daughter’s killer is trying to get his prison sentence reduced because of his ‘good behaviour.
‘The crime committed by the murderer, that of femicide, is a heinous crime that should deserve particularly severe punishment.
‘In my opinion, men who kill their wives, for whatever reason, are the lowest of the low, ranking alongside paedophiles.’
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