Husband of British mother killed in front of her baby said pair 'begged burglars not to harm them'

A British mum – living in Athens with her Greek husband and daughter – was killed during a horror early morning break-in on May 11.

Caroline Crouch, 20, was strangled to death at her home in Greece after defending her baby who was held at gunpoint.

According to Greek news site, Ta Nea, three men - police say some of whom were armed with pistols - forced entry into the home Caroline shared with her pilot husband Babis Anagnostopoulos, 32, during the early hours.

‘We begged them’

“We begged them not to hurt us,” Babis told police, in a statement widely reported in the Greek media.

“They kept telling me ‘where is the money, eh?’. I told them right away where I had hidden the money, so that the torment could end quickly.

"I heard my wife constantly screaming for help tied to the bed as I was tied up. The baby was crying, my wife was crying."

Babis said that despite telling him where the valuables were, the gang searched the house to find more money and jewellery before his wife stopped screaming.

"Suddenly they left the room, while I stopped listening to my wife's voice," Babis added.

Media reports claim the men made a getaway with jewellery worth £21,500 and £13,000 in cash.

The Greek authorities have now offered a massive €300,000 reward for capture of the killers, according to The Sun.

Investigators say the raid began around 4.30am when the gang approached the couple's house and broke a CCTV camera outside.

The trio allegedly killed the family dog before making their way up to an attic bedroom where the couple were sleeping with their 11-month-old daughter.

After tying up Babis they tortured Caroline, a trained martial artist, for over an hour.

The helicopter pilot was handcuffed to a bedpost and had his eyes and mouth covered with duct tape.

The killers wanted to know where the family kept their valuables and pointed a gun to the baby’s head to get Caroline to speak.

The gang threatened Caroline with the safety of her infant and reportedly said they would hurt the baby if she did not give them the location of the safe.

The men tied Caroline up using a t-shirt and stopped her from screaming for her baby’s safety by strangling her.

‘Heinous crime’

A spokesman for Greek police, Theodoros Chronopoulos, described the attacks as a 'heinous crime, committed with extreme ferocity.'

At about 6am Babis called for police help and officers rushed to the scene to seal off the area.

Babis and his daughter were rushed to hospital, while officers examined the house for evidence.

Babis has been seen since the incident returning home accompanied by police officers after speaking to detectives investigating the killing, iefimeridia reports.

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