DELIVERY DRIVER WHO DROWNED WIFE IN HOT TUB JAILED
A delivery driver who drowned his wife in a garden hot tub must spend at least 16-and-a-half years in prison before being considered for parole, a judge has ruled.Andrew Georgiou, 45, admitted murdering mother-of-two Carol Georgiou, 42, at their home in Holywell Place, Milton Keynes, on 2 November 2024.
Prosecutors said the husband would not accept his 19-year marriage was over and had gone into a rage after a night out.
Judge Jonathan Cooper described the murder as "brutal" and handed him a mandatory life sentence on Tuesday, during a hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court.
He told Georgiou: "Carol met her death knowing she was with the person she had chosen to live with, the person she had chosen to have children with, and the person to whom she had given her most intimate trust." Carol had climbed into the hot tub in early hours after visiting a nightclub with her husband.
The judge said evidence showed she was "intoxicated and naked" - and had struggled before she drowned.
"You had time during the course of your struggle to reflect," Judge Cooper told the husband, "...and desist." Georgiou, who waited 40 minutes before calling an ambulance, initially denied murder.
He suggested his wife died of natural causes and did not admit his guilt until late 2025.
Carol's sisters had been suspicious and one told police about their concerns.
The judge said the husband's behaviour after the murder had been "appalling" and a "calculated attempt to mislead everyone".
He added: "He reacted with rage" and attacked and drowned his wife as she sat in their garden hot tub.
Sounds of her splashing and fighting for life were picked up by a neighbour's CCTV equipment.
He was jailed during a hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court.
Judge Cooper heard the couple had met in 2000, married in June 2005, and had two sons, both now adults.
Prosecutor Pavlos Panayi KC told the judge that by the time she died, Carol had become "determined" to go through with a divorce.
He said Georgiou knew his wife had been involved with another man and "would not accept" the end of the marriage.
The judge was told things had "come to a head" in the early hours of 2 November 2024.
Panayi said evidence showed the husband "reacted with rage" after being told "we're done" and attacked and drowned his wife.
The defence, represented by Jenni Dempster KC, read a letter from Georgiou expressing shame, regret, and sorrow for what he did.
Relatives of Carol Georgiou gathered outside court after Georgiou was jailed, some wearing scarves with flamingos in her memory.
The judge praised the family for their dignity during the sentencing and wished they would "make some loud noise in Carol's memory".
He also commended police for their "remarkable" investigative work.
