A “sexually obsessed” killer who drove 100 miles to murder his teenage stepdaughter at her university accommodation has been sentenced to life in prison.
Nathan Owens, 34, strangled Carla Georgescu and must serve at least 35 years before he can be considered for parole.
He was sentenced this morning at Preston Crown Court by Mr Justice Jacobs, who told him: “You have not demonstrated any remorse for what you did.
“You took victim blaming to its limit by suggesting she had taken her own life. Her mother had to come and give evidence.
“This demonstrates how despicable you are.”
The judge said the attack on Ms Georgescu had been premeditated and sadistic. Owens was prepared to kill her to prevent her from identifying him as the man who had sexually violated her.
Owens showed no emotion as he left the dock, walking away with his hands behind his back.
During the trial, jurors heard how Owens drove through the night to carry out the killing in February.
Nathan Owens has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 35 years
Mr Justice Jacobs said: “The last 90 minutes of Carla’s life are too horrendous even to think about.
“It is clear that she tried to fight back and was aware of what was happening to her, particularly when she was attacked with a knife and suffered defensive injuries.
“It is likely, and indeed it is to be hoped, that at some point she became unconscious after being struck on the head, meaning she was unaware of everything that happened to her.
“But I am sure that she suffered both mentally and physically during a significant part of those 90 minutes.”
Owens smirked and flicked his hair yesterday after being found guilty of murdering Ms Georgescu, a student at the University of Lancashire in Preston.
Lancashire Police said in a statement: “Carla had her whole life ahead of her. She was described by a professional as ‘intelligent, gentle and articulate’.
“She was studying for an undergraduate degree in Clinical Psychology in Preston and planned to continue with postgraduate studies in Romania.
“Carla had friends and was due to travel to Romania the day after she was found, accompanied by a friend, to meet her boyfriend for the first time.
“Owens took all of that away from her.”
The court heard that after the murder, Owens returned to Carla’s mother and calmly went shopping with her at Asda while his stepdaughter’s body remained undiscovered.
The “cowardly” killer remained silent during police interviews and refused to give evidence at trial, allowing him to avoid cross-examination.
He then shocked onlookers by smiling and laughing from his seat in the glass-panelled dock while the grotesque details of Carla’s killing were spelt out during his three-week trial.
Carla Georgescu, 19, who was murdered by her stepfather at her university accommodation
Now sporting a full head of hair, Owens sat in the dock with his legs casually crossed and his arms across his stomach as the verdicts were announced – pulling a face when he was found guilty.
Jurors convicted him of murdering Carla after deliberating for just over three hours.
It can now be revealed that Owens previously pleaded guilty to making indecent images of Carla. He will be sentenced on Friday.
While exactly what happened in the early hours of February 4 may never be revealed, prosecutors suggested he was motivated by ‘sexual jealousy’.
Owens had learnt that Carla – a second-year clinical psychology student – was planning a trip to her native Romania to meet a man she had been romantically involved with online, prosecutors had claimed.
A talented artist, Carla – who moved to the UK while still at school – was described as ‘intelligent, gentle and articulate’.
Owens hid his secret depravity after marrying her mother, Janina.
But his trial heard how his ‘escalating fascination’ with Carla included having sex with a life-sized ‘effigy’ of his teenage stepdaughter which he had clothed in her nightdress.
A day before Carla was due to travel, Owens duped her into letting him into her student flat at 4am.
His intention was ‘to satisfy his sexual needs, come what may’, prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC said in his closing speech at Preston Crown Court.
As he listened in silence, Mr Lumley asked whether Owens had treated Carla ‘like a doll, like one of your effigies’ before killing her when she ‘dared to say no’ to him.
Police initially suspected Carla’s death was suicide, after her body was found slumped against a wardrobe door with a belt around her neck on February 5.
The horrific reality was revealed by CCTV, which proved the account Owens later gave police – that his wife Janina accompanied him in the early hours of the previous day – to be a lie.
In addition, damning evidence provided by his car’s GPS system revealed how he had stopped on the way home to dispose of crucial evidence.
Arriving home to Hartlepool shortly after 8am on February 4, Owens did not tell his psychotherapist wife that he had been to see her daughter.
And she became worried when Carla did not respond to her messages and calls.
Instead CCTV footage captured him casually shopping in Asda with his partner Janina.
The following day – which would have been Carla’s 20th birthday – she contacted university security.
They then carried out a welfare check and discovered her body.
Police broke the news to the couple, with Carla’s death initially put down to suicide.
Yet within hours, Owens was carrying out web searches about how police investigate suspicious deaths while also wiping his electronic devices.
He later gave Mrs Georgescu a false story about having gone to Preston that night because Carla had wanted him to take incontinence pants to her and help tidy her room.
And when police started to become suspicious, Owens lied that he and his wife had been to see Carla together.
But CCTV footage revealed he had travelled there and back alone.
A clip played to the trial shows Carla – wearing a fluffy dressing gown and pyjamas – letting Owens into Ribble Hall, her block of student flats at the University of Lancashire, at around 4am on February 4, his head hidden by a patterned blanket.
He was captured leaving the building around an hour-and-a-half later, ‘shielding’ himself with an umbrella and wearing a face-mask while wearing Carla’s trainers and carrying two bags.
Following his arrest, detectives were able to piece together his movements after the murder by downloading telematics information from the couple’s Ford Puma.
It pinpointed exactly where he stopped during the journey home, with searches of the surrounding area revealing Carla’s discarded mobile phone, her bloodied bedding and a blood-stained T-shirt.
Mrs Georgescu had last seen Carla three days before her death during an early birthday celebration at a Korean restaurant in Preston.
She had travelled from Hartlepool by train for the meal, where they were later joined by Owens, who came by car.
Footage shows Owens and Carla both looking uncomfortable and staring at their phones after being left alone at the table during dinner.
Owens had become ‘sexually fixated’ with Carla, prosecutors alleged, secretly taking pictures of her dressed in her underwear.
His ‘depraved’ actions included having sex with an ‘effigy’ of Carla as well as her dolls and toys, and manipulating an innocent image of her so it appeared sexual.
But his ‘dark life’ was hidden from his wife, who had no idea he was staying up all night obsessing over Carla, the trial heard.
Owens was also convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent.
After the verdicts, Detective Inspector Pete Macdonald, of Lancashire Police, said: ‘Carla was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, a life that was taken away by someone she should have been able to trust.
‘Owens had a despicable, perverted sexual obsession with his stepdaughter, an obsession that ended with him killing her. He has now been brought to justice for his crimes.
‘No verdict brings Carla back, but I hope that her mum and the rest of her loved ones can feel some sense of justice that the man responsible for taking her future away has been brought to justice.’