Nathan Owens, 34, has been jailed for life for the murder of his 19-year-old stepdaughter Carla Georgescu at her university halls in Preston. He must serve a minimum of 35 years in prison.
Carla, a University of Lancashire student, was found dead on February 5, which would have been her 20th birthday. Owens had travelled from Hartlepool to her accommodation in the early hours of February 4 and subjected her to a "violent and sexual assault" before killing her. He staged the scene to make it look like she had taken her own life.
Sexual obsession revealed in trial
During the trial, it emerged that Owens had harboured a "sexual obsession" with Carla without her or her mother Janina's knowledge. He filmed himself having intercourse with an effigy adorned with her clothes and made other recordings of himself performing sex acts with stuffed toys. He also doctored childhood photographs of Carla to create indecent images and photographed her without her knowledge at their family home in Hartlepool.
Owens was convicted of murder, assault causing grievous bodily harm and intentional strangulation. He smirked and flicked his hair as the verdicts were returned.
Events leading to the murder
Janina said her daughter was "happy and excited" about an upcoming trip to Romania on February 5, where she was due to meet a man she had recently begun a romantic relationship with. On February 1, Owens drove from Hartlepool to join Janina and Carla for a meal at Kimji Korean restaurant. After the meal, Janina and Owens dropped Carla off at her accommodation before returning together to the east coast.
In the early hours of February 4, Owens travelled again to Preston without telling Janina. He messaged Carla, pretending that he and her mum were coming to pick up a purse her mum had left behind. CCTV footage showed Owens making his way to Carla's student accommodation with a blanket covering his head. He was later seen entering the building after Carla let him in. She was never seen alive again.
Discovery and evidence
Carla was found slumped against her wardrobe, with injuries to her head, defensive marks on her hands and sexual injuries. Although Owens disposed of some evidence, including Carla's red pyjama bottoms, which have never been found, his DNA was discovered on her body, the floor and a blanket in her room.
Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC told jurors during the trial: "Her death was the culmination, the end point, of weeks, months and perhaps years of a one-sided sexual obsession."
