Carer ‘murdered elderly couple’s daughter in their home’

A picture of Ms Constantinou, smiling
Efthyia Constantinou was found dead with stab wounds to her neck in her mother’s home in north London - Met Police

A carer for an elderly couple murdered their daughter in their home, a court has been told.

Zaneta Peto, 55, is accused of stabbing Efthyia Constantinou, 62, to death with a kitchen knife in front of Ms Constantinou’s elderly mother on Oct 30.

Ms Peto, of Enfield, killed Ms Constantinou in her mother’s home on Westerham Avenue, Edmonton, the Old Bailey heard.

Prosecutors said CCTV installed in the home to monitor the parents picked up the sound of the elderly mother’s screams as she watched Ms Peto kill her daughter.

Ms Constantinou was found dead with stab wounds to her neck, and a knife approximately 8cm (3 inches) long and 2cm (1 inch) wide was found in the kitchen sink. The top of the blade was bent and the hilt bloodstained.

Paul Casey, prosecuting, said police responded to an abandoned call (a call in which the line is connected but stays silent) made from the address shortly before 5pm last Wednesday.

He said: “Officers found Ms Constantinou lying on the kitchen floor covered in blood. She had sustained multiple laceration injuries predominantly to the area of her neck.”

Treatment was administered and the London ambulance service arrived shortly after, but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Motion-activated CCTV

The CCTV cameras installed by Ms Constantinou in the lounge and kitchen were motion-activated, with the capacity to capture sound and video.

Footage from the kitchen camera ended at 4.20pm on the day of the killing. However, footage from the lounge continued, showing an elderly man sitting on the sofa, while screams could be heard on its soundtrack.

Mr Casey said: “The defendant was asked during interview whether she had interfered with [the camera] but she denied doing so.

“There is footage from the lounge of the elderly man sitting on the sofa and voices and screams can be heard. The Crown’s case is that these voices were inside the home.”

From 4.20pm, the lounge footage showed the defendant repeatedly encouraging the elderly man to remain in the room.

Mr Casey added: “The Crown’s case is that between approximately 4.10pm to 4.20pm this defendant attacked Ms Constantinou.”

Ms Peto sobbed on a video link from HMP Bronzefield, stopping occasionally to shout in Greek: “It’s all lies.”

She was charged with murder and remanded in custody ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing on Jan 31 2025.