CAROLINE Crouch’s heart rate surged as her husband smothered her with a pillow, a coroner’s report has said.
Data from the 20-year-old’s smartwatch showed her pulse went up by 50 per cent as she was attacked by Babis Anagnostopoulos, according to the report.
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The 33-year-old helicopter pilot confessed to murdering his wife after she threatened to leave him and take their baby daughter.
The Brit mum was asleep right before she suffered “an agonising, not instant death” with husbandsmothering her for at least 5-6 minutes, the report revealed.
The Brit’s cause of death as asphyxiation, amna.gr reports.
Doctors said Caroline had several bruises on her lips and tongue, possibly caused by a sharp object.
According to data from Caroline’s smartwatch, she died between 4:05am and 4:11am, when an increase in her heart rate was recorded.
It comes as:
The coroner’s report discloses that a few minutes earlier at 3.58am, the mum-of-one’s heart rate reflected a person who is fast asleep.
“At 04:05 her pulse increases abruptly by 50 per cent up from a state of sleep. I think at that time the person was in an extreme state of mental or physical stress,” the doctor explained.
She concluded that “the death process took place from 4:05am to 4:11am. “
Anagnostopoulos is currently being held in solitary confinement in a police detention centre as investigators continue to question him.
During a second interview, he told murder cops how Caroline “shook” as he pressed the “weight of my body” as her face rested on the pillow, Protothema reports.
He also told them he managed to tie his hands behind his legs and then “tied my legs to the boards of the bed”.
Previously it had been revealed that black belt kickboxer Caroline had fought her husband for ten minutes before she died.
Babis spent more than a month claiming his wife was a victim of a gang of Albanian thieves who broke into the couple’s home in Glyka Nera, near Athens.
The helicopter pilot has been described as a “top-class actor” by police as he was pretending to be devastated by his wife’s death for 38 days.
Cops travelled to the island of Alonnisos where a memorial service for Caroline took place and asked him to follow them in order to give new testimony about the murder probe.
It is reported he told cops he “panicked” when he realised he had killed Caroline after holding her down in bed as the couple were having a late night row.
He also said he was considering hiding her body in a bid to mislead the police and claimed he did so because he didn’t want his daughter to grow up without parents.
He even admitted killing the family’s puppy in order to make the crime scene more plausible.
Meanwhile, heart-breaking entries of Caroline’s diary revealed the couple’s troubled relationship and that the young mum was planning to leave Babis for a long time.
Caroline’s stunned mother admitted she did not suspect her daughter’s husband “for a second.”
Babis arrived to court yesterday, wearing a bullet-proof vest and was charged with intentional homicide and animal abuse as well as with false accusations.
He remains in custody at Hellenic Police Attica Headquarters and is expected to present his defence on Tuesday.
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available every day from 10am-6pm or email helpline@womensaid.org.uk
SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
