Afghan refugee boxing champ arrested over horrific suitcase homicide of Brit girl in Athens
An Afghan refugee boxing champion has been arrested in Athens over the alleged suitcase murder and robbery of Scottish volunteer Elisabeth-Jane Ross
Sharif Ahmadzai, 26, is accused of killing 38-year-old Elisabeth-Jane Ross(Image: INSTAGRAM)
A champion boxer who founded a refugee charity in Athens is currently in police custody after being linked to the alleged murder of a British woman whose body was discovered crammed into a suitcase. Sharif Ahmadzai, 26, is accused of killing 38-year-old Elisabeth-Jane Ross before stashing her remains in an abandoned building in Kypseli on July 16.
Authorities also claim the Afghan national cleaned out thousands of Euros from the victim’s bank account following the brutal attack.
According to reports from the Daily Mail, security camera footage captured Ahmadzai wheeling a suitcase away from the victim’s apartment complex towards the area where her body was later unearthed.
Elisabeth, a passionate volunteer who often travelled to Greece to help refugees, was found dead in a suitcase(Image: Facebook)
Police revealed that the charity he runs, Love Every Nation Athens, actually owned the property where the Scottish woman had been staying, giving him access to the flat.
The investigation was sparked when Ahmadzai’s own wife alerted police to her suspicions. She told investigators she woke up on the night of July 15 to find her husband gone, only to track his live phone location directly to Elisabeth’s apartment.
Suspicions mounted further when Ahmadzai handed her €2,550 (£2,200) in cash alongside a brand-new iPhone 17 Pro – items she believed were purchased using money stolen directly from the victim.
Sharif Ahmadzai, who is suspected of killing Elisabeth-Jane Ross, and his wife Alaina Hall(Image: FACEBOOK)
A Greek police source told The Times: “The testimony of the wife has been crucial and it would appear that she did not want to be part of the crime committed by her husband. Without her and CCTV evidence, we would not have been able to find this man.”
Ahmadzai, who arrived in Greece via a small boat before going on to claim the Greek super lightweight boxing title in March 2023, now faces charges of murder, robbery and illegal possession of a weapon. He is scheduled to appear in an Athens court this week.
According to his personal website, his father, a military commander in Kabul, was shot dead by the Taliban when Ahmadzai was four.
Elisabeth had flown into Athens from Edinburgh on June 26(Image: Facebook)
Meanwhile, his brother was kidnapped five years later and the rest of his immediate family was killed in a suicide car bombing when he was 15.
Elisabeth, a passionate volunteer who frequently travelled to Greece to assist refugees through organisations like One Heart, had flown into Athens from Edinburgh on June 26.
A case file cited by The Times indicates that preliminary post-mortem reports point to asphyxiation as her cause of death.
Her killer allegedly hijacked Elisabeth’s phone after her death to send fake text messages to her family, convincing them she was alive and simply taking time out to be alone.
Her father, a lawyer based in Edinburgh, continued receiving messages for up to a fortnight after she had been killed.
Paying tribute to the victim, her aunt, Anne Bangham, described her as a “beautiful, loving and kind young lady”.
Authorities in both Greece and the UK are supporting the family as legal proceedings get underway.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “Our thoughts are with Elisabeth’s family during this difficult time. We are providing consular support and are in contact with the local authorities.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are aware of the death of a Scottish woman in Athens and are liaising with authorities in Greece. Officers are providing support to her family in Scotland.”
