The Greek pilot who killed British woman Caroline Crouch told her father he did it to silence her.

A Greek pilot wrote an explosive confession letter admitting to the murder of his British wife in order to silence her about his drug addiction, the victim’s father claimed.

Babis Anagnostopoulos, 35, suffocated Caroline Crouch and her dog in front of her young daughter Lydia in a fake burglary.

He was jailed for life last summer but now his father-in-law David Crouch has claimed the wife killer described his crime in a typed letter.

Anagnostopoulos was allegedly transporting drugs in his helicopter for a local gang but tried to get off after confessing to Miss Crouch, who threatened to leave him.

Greek pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos (centre, escorted by police officers in Athens, May 2022) wrote an explosive confession letter admitting the murder of his British wife in order to silence her about his drug racket, the victim’s father has claimed

Babis Anagnostopoulos (right), 34, was sentenced to life in prison for suffocating 20-year-old Caroline Crouch (left) at her home in the suburbs of the Greek capital Athens on May 11, 2021

The criminals then told the pilot he had to shut up his wife after he slipped that she knew – so he killed Miss Crouch for fear that if he didn’t he would be killed too.

Anagnostopoulos’ lawyers dismissed the claims as “false” and part of a maneuver before her client appealed his murder conviction later that year.

But Mr Crouch, 79, who lives on the Greek island of Alonissos, insists he has a typed letter in “very good English”.

He told Greek TV channel Ant1: “I’ll tell you why he murdered Caroline in front of his child.

“He was involved in a drug gang. There was a restaurant that Caroline and Babis used to go to and the man who owned the restaurant was involved in drugs.

“He spoke to Babis and told him that the gang he was involved with needed a helicopter pilot and that it was a job for which he paid a lot of money.” He continued, “Babis was very stupid. Instead of shutting up, he told Caroline.

“Well Caroline was a very honest person and said she would have nothing to do with it and if he went ahead with this drug deal she would leave immediately and go to the Philippines.

Anagnostopoulos (right) was jailed for life last summer but now his father-in-law David Crouch has claimed the woman’s killer described his crime in a typed letter

“So he told the people, the gang, that he couldn’t do it and they asked him why and – I just told you how stupid he is – he said, ‘I told my wife and she said, if I keep doing it she will leave me.«

“They said, ‘Well, you can’t tell your wife, you have to keep her quiet. If she believes you, she’ll always know, and one day she’ll talk, and then we’ll have to get rid of her.”

Mr Crouch added: “That was the only reason he killed her because he thought if he didn’t he and Caroline would be killed by the drug gang.”

He admitted the letter isn’t signed, but insisted: “If you speak to his mother, she will tell you what the truth is.” It’s the latest twist in the shocking murder of 19-year-old Miss Crouch in her villa in Alonissos in May 2021.

Anagnostopoulos tied himself up after strangling both his wife and five-month-old dog Roxy before telling police they had been attacked by Albanian criminals.

He cried crocodile tears in a church service at a hilltop cemetery on his wife’s home island of Alonissos, and hugged her distraught mother, Susan.

But Greek police exposed his deception and Anagnostopoulos was sentenced to 16 years in prison for killing his wife and 11.5 years for killing her dog and perverting the course of justice.

Mr and Mrs Crouch, 58, won custody of their two-year-old granddaughter Lydia, who now lives with her family in Mrs Crouch’s native Philippines.

Anagnostopoulos was allegedly transporting drugs in his helicopter for a local gang but tried to get off after confessing to Miss Crouch, who threatened to leave him

But Anagnostopoulos’ parents are appealing the decision – believing they should have custody of the child.

Mr Crouch, a retired engineer from Liverpool, said: “I don’t think it’s right that Lydia is growing up with the parents of the man who murdered her mother.” Explaining how she is growing up in the Philippines, he said: “Oh, she is 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 she considers my stepdaughter’s children as brothers and sisters.

“So I think it would be ridiculous 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. “Right now she doesn’t think her mother was murdered,” he said.

“She just thinks her mother died – she doesn’t really understand death.

“We never talked about her father, she never asked about her father, so we never talked about it.”

Responding to the allegations via a confession letter, Alexandros Papaioannidis, for Anagnostopoulos, told the Mail: “It’s all fake and I think it’s a father’s step only for appeal.”