The husband of a British woman murdered during a burglary in Greece has told how he begged the thieves not to hurt his family.

Caroline Crouch, 20, had been upstairs with the couple’s daughter, 11 months, when the thieves broke into their home around 5am. Her husband, Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, 33, known as ‘Babis’, was sleeping downstairs.

He said they tied both of them up and held a gun to their baby’s head. They then demanded ‘where’s the money’, in broken Greek.

The couple had a large amount of cash in the property, as they’d recently bought some land and needed to pay the builders, Mr Anagnostopoulos said. He told them it was hidden in a monopoly box, but they demanded more.

According to I Avgi, a newspaper in Athens, Mr Anagnostopoulos told the police: ‘I heard my wife screaming for help tied to the bed while I was tied to the floor. We screamed not to be hurt. 

‘The baby was crying, my wife was crying and someone or some people were looking through the house to find more money and jewellery. Suddenly they left the room and I couldn’t hear my wife’s voice anymore.’  

Caroline was strangled to death during the raid. The thieves took around 15,000 euros and 25,000 euros worth of jewellery.

Police officers handling the case have concluded that the perpetrators knew the family had a large amount of cash in their home at the time.

Speaking to Greek TV outside the family home later the same day, Mr Anagnostopoulos said: ‘I wish no one ever goes through what we went through last night. It was a nightmare. 

‘We begged the thieves not to harm us. We told them where the money was and asked them to leave us alone. The police will catch them.’ 

A £250,000 reward has been offered for anyone who has information about the burglary. Mr Anagnostopoulos said the men had spoken a foreign language among themselves, but he was not able to identify it.

He called the police around 6am, after the men had fled the scene, and the area was cordoned off. He and the baby were checked over in hospital.

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