A British mother was tortured to death in front of her 11-month-old daughter during a “barbaric” burglary in Greece.
A hooded gang of three intruders ransacked the home of Caroline and Charalambos Babis Anagnostopoulos in an affluent Athens suburb while a fourth stood watch outside.
Helicopter pilot Charalambos, 32, was tied up in another room as his wife was murdered with “extreme ferocity”, according to police.
The husband reportedly told officers he heard the murderers say to his 20-year-old wife: “Tell us where the money is – we will kill the baby.”
Student Caroline’s body was found next to her crying baby at the four-storey home in wealthy Glyka Nera, near Athens airport.
The family’s dog was also strangled with its own collar and its body hung on the bannister.
A £250,000 reward was offered by the Greek government for information leading to the conviction of the gang.
(Image: Babis Anagnostopoulos/Instagram)
Greek police spokesman Theodoros Chronopoulos said on Tuesday: “The murder of the 20-year-old mother this morning is a heinous crime committed with great ferocity.
“Such barbarism is rare for the data of our country. The husband notified the authorities, who responded immediately.
“From the first moment, psychological support and medical care was provided to the family members.”
He said officers from the Attica Security Directorate were investigating and offered his “sincere condolences”.
Caroline, who was studying at the University of Piraeus, was also an avid martial arts expert.
Her British parents are understood to have moved to idyllic Greek holiday island Alonnisos when she was young.
(Image: ᴄᴀʀᴏʟɪɴᴇ ᴄʀᴏᴜᴄʜ/Instagram)
She met Charalambos there but retained her British nationality.
The intruders reportedly broke in via a basement window at around 5am. They killed the dog when it started barking.
They then grabbed the pilot and gagged and handcuffed him with rope, before using a T-shirt to tie up Caroline, who is understood to have been in a separate room with the baby.
Media reports said she was tortured for an hour to reveal where money and jewellery were hidden in the house.
The gang took £13,000 in cash as well as around £13,000 of jewellery.
Charalambos managed to free himself and raised the alarm around 6am.
Police were last night making house to house enquiries, undertaking forensic analysis at the home as well as scanning CCTV in the area.
(Image: Babis Anagnostopoulos/Instagram)
A spokesman for the Greek government said minister of citizen protection Michalis Chrysochoidis and deputy minister of finance Theodoros Skylakakis had made a joint decision to offer the 300,000 euro reward.
They said in a statement it was payable to “anyone who provides data and information of the ongoing investigations, leading to the arrest of the perpetrators of robbery and murder committed today in Glyka Nera, Attica”.
A post-mortem exam was expected to be carried out early Wednesday morning.
