A stepfather accused of murdering a student in her halls of residence engaged in sexual activity in her room before she died, a jury at Preston Crown Court has been told.
Carla Georgescu, 19, was found suspended from a wardrobe with injuries to her hands, cheek and sexual injuries. She was wearing incontinence pants and a sex toy was positioned close to her body, the court heard.
Nathan Owens, 34, denies murder, strangulation and grievous bodily harm during the trial. He admitted visiting his stepdaughter at her university accommodation in the early hours of February 4, 2026, but said she was alive and well when he left an hour and a half later.
Prosecution alleges sexual obsession
The prosecution alleges Owens murdered Carla after developing a sexual obsession with her, possibly fuelled by sexual jealousy after learning she planned to meet her online boyfriend for the first time in Romania, Nicholas Lumley KC said.
Jurors were shown footage of Owens visiting Ribble Hall accommodation while his wife was asleep at their home on the east coast. He covered his head with a blanket as he walked towards the building, prosecutors said.
Forensic expert Helen Jones, of Lancashire Police, told the jury about samples of blood, DNA and bodily fluids found in the bedroom. She said there was evidence of sexual activity, forensically linked to the defendant, on a blanket, Carla's sanitary pad and swabs taken from her body.
Blood evidence and discovered items
The expert described blood staining in the room and said photos taken after Carla was found appeared to show wet blood on her hands. "In my opinion it would not have been possible for her to tie it [the belt] without transferring blood onto the door or the handle itself," she said.
Carla was discovered at Ribble Hall on February 5, 2026, after her mother called campus security to check on her. The student was due to travel to Romania with her friend on what would have been her 20th birthday, but neither her mother nor her friend could reach her.
When police entered Carla's room, on the top floor of the student block, it was initially suspected she had taken her own life. However it quickly became a murder investigation with Owens as the prime suspect.
The jury was told about items recovered from Carla's bedroom, the family home in Hartlepool and sites on the prosecution's alleged route home after Owens visited Carla on February 4. A number of items were found close to the A685 in Cumbria, which the prosecution alleges were dumped by Owens after he killed Carla.
Farmer finds dumped items
Jennifer Tunstall, a farmer who lives and works in the area, said she saw rubbish dumped near the gate of her farm on February 7. She said she "hates rubbish" and cleared it up, putting it into an animal feed bag inside a council bin bag which she left for the rubbish collection.
Among the items she picked up were a blood-stained mattress protector, two or three socks, tissues, a black and white sex toy and white latex gloves, she said in a statement. On September 9, a police officer visited the farm and asked if she had seen any fly-tipping. The farmer showed them the bag of rubbish she had collected.
The following day, CSI investigators found a blue sex toy in a nearby river, a bottle of lube and a T-shirt nearby, prosecutors said. White latex gloves were found at the house in Hartlepool, identical to the ones discovered in Cumbria. Forensic tests revealed blood matching Carla's profile on the bedsheet and gloves found by the farmer.
Videos and alleged timeline
Earlier in the trial, jurors were told how on February 4 Owens returned to Hartlepool and spent the day shopping and walking on the beach. He did not reveal he had been to Preston until two days later when Carla's mother spoke to the mortuary about her daughter.
The prosecution says in the days and weeks before Carla died, Owens accessed a number of videos which showed his sexual obsession with his stepdaughter. Among them were covert videos captured of the teenager while she was wearing her underwear or short pyjamas, and clips of him having sex with an effigy wearing her nightie.
Mr Lumley KC said: "Carla Georgescu had been gravely assaulted, beaten about the head, stabbed to the face, the blade connecting with her hands as she tried to defend herself, before being strangled to death by use, at the very least, of the belt and then suspended from the wardrobe handle. There had plainly been some form of grievous sexual activity too. Hardly surprising given his obsession with her."
The trial continues.
