A court has heard how a 34-year-old man allegedly murdered his 19-year-old stepdaughter in a sexually motivated killing after driving more than 100 miles through the night to her university accommodation.
Nathan Owens is said to have killed Carla Georgescu at her University of Lancashire campus in Preston on February 4. Jurors at the city's crown court were told Owens 'had a wholly improper and dangerously entrenched sexual obsession with' Carla.
Jealousy and a night-time drive
The prosecution said a fit of jealousy may have prompted the trip after Owens learned Carla was flying out to Romania the next day and had also made plans to see a man she had been speaking to online.
CCTV footage shows Owens wrapping himself in a blanket as he knocks on the door of the student accommodation. Once inside, he momentarily glances up at the camera before following Carla into her room.
Attack and aftermath
Over the next 90 minutes, he is alleged to have subjected her to 'some form of grievous sexual activity' which included strangulation and led to her death. A post-mortem revealed she had suffered two heavy blows to her head, slash marks on her cheek, and cuts and bruises to her mouth and nose. Her hands were covered in blood because she attempted to defend herself during the attack. Sex toys and Owens' DNA were also found at the scene.
When he left the accommodation, CCTV records Owens 'shielding' himself with an umbrella, wearing a face mask and Carla's trainers, while carrying two bags. The prosecution allege these bags may have contained Carla's phone and laptop, which he removed and dumped somewhere on the drive back to Hartlepool.
Prosecution's case
Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecuting, said: 'Her death was the culmination, the end point, of weeks, months and perhaps years of a one-sided sexual obsession.' He told the jury how, in the months leading up to Carla's murder, Owens had taken pictures of her without her knowledge and turned innocent selfies of her into sexual images. Owens also filmed himself having sex with her dolls and toys, including a life-sized 'effigy' dressed in her nightie.
After allegedly murdering Carla, Owens returned to Hartlepool, County Durham, where he was his 'normal self', according to Janina. As he went for a walk and shopped at Asda, Carla's body lay slumped against a wardrobe with a belt tied around her neck. Her mother later raised the alarm when her daughter didn't respond to calls or texts, leading to her being found by police officers on what would have been her 20th birthday.
Owens said Carla asked him to bring her incontinence pants and help tidy her room, a claim Mr Lumley says is untrue and an attempt to 'cover his tracks'. Owens denies murder, intentional strangulation and grievous bodily harm with intent. The trial continues.
