This is the moment 19-year-old university student Carla Georgescu’s “sexually obsessed” stepfather allegedly arrived at her campus accommodation with his head concealed beneath a blanket before strangling her, a court has heard.
Nathan Owens, 34, is accused of driving through the night before murdering Carla at Ribble Hall, a block of student flats at the University of Lancashire in Preston.
Prosecutors allege he may have been driven by “sexual jealousy” after learning that the second-year clinical psychology student was preparing to meet a man with whom she had developed a romantic relationship online.
Jurors at Owens’ murder trial were told that his “escalating fascination” with Carla included having sex with a life-sized “effigy” of his teenage stepdaughter, which he had dressed in her nightdress.
Preston Crown Court was shown footage of Owens parking his Ford Puma close to Carla’s accommodation at about 4am on February 4, after driving from the family home in Hartlepool without telling his sleeping wife, Carla’s mother.
Alone, Owens is then seen walking towards the building’s foyer with a patterned blanket covering his head.
About an hour and a half later, he was filmed leaving while “shielding” himself with an umbrella and wearing a face mask. He was also wearing Carla’s trainers and carrying two bags, the court heard.
Owens then drove back to Hartlepool. On Wednesday, his wife Janina told jurors that he did not mention visiting Carla during the night.
Carla Georgescu, 19, a second-year clinical psychology student at the University of Lancashire, was allegedly strangled and murdered by her stepfather Nathan Owens
Preston Crown Court was shown footage of Owens allegedly walking towards the student accommodation with a patterned blanket over his head on the morning his stepdaughter was “murdered”
Janina became concerned when Carla failed to respond to her messages and calls. The following day, which would have been Carla’s 20th birthday, she contacted university security.
Staff carried out a welfare check and found Carla’s body slumped against a wardrobe door with a belt around her neck. They initially believed she had taken her own life.
Owens only told Ms Georgescu about his late-night journey to Preston after police informed the couple of the discovery, the court heard.
He claimed Carla had asked him to bring incontinence pants and help tidy her room.
However, prosecutors allege the explanation was an attempt to “cover his tracks” and “keep his wife onside”.
Ms Georgescu had last seen her Romania-born daughter three days earlier, during an early birthday celebration at a Korean restaurant in Preston.
She had travelled by train from Hartlepool for the meal on February 1, ahead of Carla’s planned birthday trip to Romania to meet her online boyfriend in person for the first time.
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Owens later joined them, arriving by car.
Owens was seen parking his Ford Puma near Carla’s university accommodation on February 1 after driving from the family home in Hartlepool to take her out for a birthday meal
Carla’s body was found at her University of Lancashire accommodation, Ribble Hall in Preston, on February 5 after her mother raised the alarm
Further footage shown to the jury today shows Owens and Carla both staring at their phones after being left alone at the table during dinner.
Owens later drove home to Hartlepool with Ms Georgescu.
But the prosecution allege he returned to Carla’s flat in the early hours of February 4, without telling his wife, after giving the teenager a story about having to collect her mother’s purse.
He allegedly then brutally attacked Carla before fleeing the scene, dumping evidence and attempting to cover his tracks.
Owens, whose DNA was found at the scene, was arrested the day after her body was found.
Also today the jury heard how Carla had battled depression after arriving in the UK when she was 12.
She had also endured pain for some years due to suffering from endometriosis, abnormal tissue growth around the womb.
In the month before she died, she had accessed NHS mental health services and answered ‘yes’ when asked in an online triage questionnaire if she was thinking about ending her life.
But when contacted by a doctor and asked if she was suicidal, she said she was ‘OK now’ and was advised to consult her GP so she could be treated for her depression.
The prosecution allege that Owens had become ‘sexually fixated’ with Carla and her death was the culmination of weeks, months and perhaps years of a ‘one-sided sexual obsession’.
He is said to have taken photos of Carla without her knowledge, filmed himself having sex with her dolls and toys, one of which was a life-sized ‘effigy’ that he had clothed in her nightdress, and manipulated an innocent image of her so it appeared sexual.
Owens also allegedly made videos of him using sex toys and accessed further images of Carla ‘deriving sexual satisfaction’ from them.
He denies charges of murder, intentional strangulation, and grievous bodily harm with intent.
The trial continues.
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