A group of middle-aged women have bizarrely voiced support for a "handsome and dashing" helicopter pilot who murdered his young wife.
Babis Anagnostopoulos was sentenced to life for killing his British-born partner Caroline Crouch in front of their 11-month-old daughter, Lydia, at the family home in Glyka Nera, near Athens, Greece, last summer.
However, the 34-year-old continues to 'act' like a mourning husband and told reporters after his sentencing yesterday he "cannot get over" the 20-year-old's death.
He has now been hauled off to one of the Greek capital's most notorious prisons.
Anagnostopoulos' five-week trial heard how he had strangled Caroline as she slept next to her baby, as well as killing her beloved pet husky dog Roxy.
He admitted to a "crime of passion" after she had asked him for a divorce.
But despite the evidence against the pilot, a small group of women had gathered outside the court on Tuesday to show their support for the murderer.
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"By no means do I justify what he did,” Evaggelia Selekou, 52, told The Times.
"But he’s quite handsome and dashing, and I am 100 per cent sure that Babis acted in a fit of rage."
Another middle-aged woman said: “He’s quite sensitive, not the narcissist they paint him out to be. I think of him a lot.
“I’ve collected pictures of him and pinned them on my bedroom wall.”
She added that she will try and visit him in prison because he's a "nice chap" and will likely struggle in prison.
She fears he would be a suicide risk.
Immediately after the murder on May 11, 2021, Anagnostopoulos spun a web of lies to confuse investigators and avoid punishment, claiming Caroline had died in a botched armed robbery.
The day after she was found dead, he told TV crews: "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."
And one day later, he spoke with the Mirror - claiming how he was in "no condition" to speak at length about Caroline.
He said: "She was an amazing person, full of life and full of love. Our lives will never be the same without her.
"Take care of your family, sir. Cherish your loved ones as much as you can."
The brazen killer was even seen hugging Caroline's grief-stricken mum during a memorial to her on the island of Alonnisos - just moments before cops approached him at the service.
Athens police told him there had been a breakthrough in the case and asked him to identify a suspect.
Cops flew him to Athens where they told him he was the suspect.
Investigators carried out an eight-hour interrogation and Anagnostopoulos cracked, admitting to killing Caroline when she told him to leave the house after an argument.
They said Anagnostopoulos admitted he killed his wife in front of their daughter then strangled the family's dog as he tried to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.
He faced four counts: premeditated murder, animal abuse, perverting the course of justice and lying to authorities.
He was found guilty of all counts.
In addition to life in prison he was handed an extra eleven years and six months in prison for the brutal murder of dog Roxy and deliberately perverting the course of justice.
