A student found dead at her halls of residence was murdered by her stepfather, who was 'sexually obsessed' with her, a jury has heard. Carla Georgescu, 19, was discovered unresponsive at Ribble Halls in Preston on February 5 this year - on what would have been her 20th birthday, Lancs Live reports.
She was found slumped against a wardrobe with a belt around her neck, two serious injuries to her head and sexual injuries, jurors were told. It was initially suspected she had taken her own life, it was said.
Stepfather denies murder
Carla's stepfather Nathan Owens has gone on trial at Preston Crown Court charged with murder, grievous bodily harm and strangulation. The 34-year-old, from Hartlepool, denies the offences.
As the trial opened on Tuesday (October 6), jurors were told Carla - a second year psychology student at the University of Lancashire - was fit and well in the weeks before she died. She was planning a trip to her home country of Romania with her best friend on February 5 and hoped to meet her online boyfriend for the first time a few weeks later, Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecuting, told the court.
On February 3, 2026, Carla returned to her halls of residence around 5.15pm and spent time on her laptop and mobile phone. She spoke to her friend about their upcoming trip and asked her to send her boarding pass to her, the court heard.
Night-time arrival at halls
In the early hours of February 4, Mr Owens messaged his stepdaughter, claiming her mum had left her purse behind when they had visited at the weekend. He said she needed it before Carla went away and they were on their way over together to collect it, jurors were told.
Mr Owens was alone when he arrived at the halls of residence at around 4am, the court heard. He parked away from the allocated parking and covered his head with a blanket as he walked to the student block, the jury was told. An hour-and-a-half later, he was wearing Carla's trainers and a face mask and was shielding his face from CCTV with an umbrella as he let himself out of the building, the court heard.
On February 5, Carla had arranged to meet her friend in Birmingham to catch their flight but never arrived, the court was told. Her mother was also unable to contact her on her birthday and was so worried she called the police, it was said.
Disturbing scene discovered
Officers and university staff went to the flat in Ribble Hall and were met by a 'disturbing scene', the court heard. Carla's body was slumped backwards against a wardrobe and there was blood on her body and underwear with a leather belt wrapped around her neck, jurors were told.
A murder investigation was launched, jurors were told. Prosecutors claim that is when evidence of Mr Owens' alleged sexual obsession with his stepdaughter emerged. Over the previous year, the Crown says he had taken covert photos of Carla while she was doing household chores in pyjamas.
In the weeks before Carla died, Mr Owens accessed videos of himself having sex with a life sized 'effigy' dressed in Carla's nightdress, the jury heard. Other videos showed him having sex with Carla's anime dolls and a stuffed cat she had bought him, the court was told. He had also manipulated innocent selfies of Carla into sexual images which he viewed in the week before she died, prosecutors alleged.
"The only possible reason for looking at those images is that Nathan Owens had a wholly improper and dangerously entrenched sexual obsession with his stepdaughter," Mr Lumley KC told the jury.
Prosecution case
The court heard Carla was in good health and although she had disclosed some previous suicidal thoughts to a counsellor, had said she had no intention to act on them when asked directly. In January, she told a nurse she had no sexual experience during an appointment for treatment for endometriosis, a painful gynaecological condition, the court heard.
The prosecution alleges that in the early hours of February 4, Mr Owens left Carla's mother asleep at their home in Hartlepool and drove to the University of Lancashire where he murdered the 19-year-old in her room. "Why choose to go that night?" Mr Lumley KC said. "We may never know. He would have known that Carla was due to leave for Romania the next day, to go with Alice her friend to go on a trip to that country. He would have known she had struck up a romantic relationship with a young man who she also planned to see in the near future. It could have been there was a degree of sexual jealousy. Did he not want her to be romantically involved with anyone else?"
The court heard Carla's mother was unaware her husband had left the house and travelled to Preston that night. She later told investigators Mr Owens lived a nocturnal existence, staying up all night playing computer games and going to bed when she got up for work, it was said. When she could not get hold of her daughter on her birthday, Ms Georgescu called the police who visited the halls in Victoria Street, jurors were told.
On discovering Carla's body, they initially thought her death was self inflicted, however she had a number of suspicious injuries, the court heard. She had two serious injuries to her head and a cut through her cheek, caused by a knife or blade. Carla also had sexual injuries and both her and Mr Owens' DNA was found on sex toys in her room, the court heard.
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 prosecution alleges Mr Owens removed Carla's phone and laptop and dumped them on the drive between Preston and Hartlepool. Blood stained clothing; Carla's bedsheets; latex gloves and lubrication were later recovered by the police, the court heard. A sex toy matching one used in one of Mr Owens' videos was found in a beck in Cumbria, the court heard.
On February 5, 2026, two police officers visited the family home in Hartlepool and informed Carla's mother her daughter had been found dead, the court heard. They said it appeared she had taken her own life, jurors heard. Following that visit, Mr Owens allegedly conducted internet searches including 'police misinformed about cause of death'; and 'police lying to victim's family'.
Mr Lumley KC told the jury the defendant deleted more than 6,000 files and carried out a factory reset on his phone. After Carla's mother visited her daughter at the mortuary on January 6, Mr Owens said he had been to the university accommodation to help Carla tidy her room and take some items to her.
Mr Lumley KC said: "What did he tell the police, when they interviewed him over all those hours, on suspicion of Carla's murder? Beyond a fleeting denial that he had anything to do with her death and had caused her no injury, he said nothing else. On the prosecution case he had been there, he was the last person to see Carla alive, he had taken all those things from her, from her room. It may be that he now seeks to blame Carla, or someone else altogether, it doesn't really explain his actions or his movements in any way. On that evidence you will safely be able to conclude that it was clearly Nathan Owens who attacked and killed young Carla."
Nathan Owens, 34, of Hopps Street, Hartlepool, denies murder; GBH; and strangulation.
