The Court of Appeal in London dismissed the appeal this week of  Thanos Papalexis 38 years who was given life imprisonment when convicted of murdering Cypriot Charalambos Christodoulides in year 2,000.
 After the murder Papalexis fled to Miami but was arrested when he returned in 2008.

Paplexis a property developer lived a millionaires lifestyle in Palm Beach and once entertained the Clintons.

Thanos was jailed for life for murdering Christodoulides a tenant who stood in the way of a deal he hoped would save his ailing business.

Thanos Papalexis was described as a “devil” by the sister of Charalambos Christodoulides, 55, who was tied to a chair, tortured and strangled in March 2000 at a warehouse in Kilburn, north-west London, where he was the resident caretaker.

Papalexis, born in London to a Greek shipping magnate, was part of the Palm Beach social scene at the time of his arrest last year.

At his Florida home, formerly the residence of fashion designer Gianni Versace, he held a fundraising gala for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, which she attended with her husband.

But in 2000 problems with his US business interests had left him strapped for cash and desperate to force through a deal for the warehouse where Christodoulides, described as “harmless” by the judge and known as Bambi to his family for his gentle nature, had lived for most of his adult life.

Papalexis wanted to buy the derelict site, which housed the warehouse, owned by Christodoulides’s brother-in-law Michael Lanitis, for £2m and then sell it on in a “back-to-back” deal to a third party, before paying Lanitis, to raise cash.

Although Christodoulides’s family said he would move out when required Papalexis believed that Christodoulides stood in the way of a quick deal that would save him from financial ruin. He was worried the deal would collapse and needed money for another development.

The court was told he was in a “perilous” financial state after his inexperience led to heavy losses on another development in Holloway, north London.

The body of Christodoulides was found in a car inspection pit in the warehouse two weeks after he was killed.

The property deal fell through and the Holloway development was put into receivership with £8m debts.

Papalexis was arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, after police spent years building a case against him.

Leave a Reply