Stepfather Nathan Owens on trial for murder of student Carla Georgescu at Lancashire halls

Mixed · 2Nathan Owens, 34, of Hartlepool, is on trial at Preston Crown Court accused of murdering his stepdaughter Carla Georgescu, 19, a second-year University of Lancashire student. He denies murder, intentional strangulation and grievous bodily harm with intent. 1 2 Mixed · 2Georgescu was found dead on 5 February, which would have been her 20th birthday, in her room at Ribble Hall, a student accommodation block in Preston. Police and university staff went to check on her after her mother could not reach her. 1 2 Mixed · 2The jury heard she was slumped against a wardrobe with a leather belt around her neck, and that those who found her first thought she had taken her own life. Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC said forensic examination and a post-mortem showed otherwise: two heavy blows to the head, a cut to the cheek from a knife or blade, injuries to her hands consistent with defending herself, and sexual injuries. 1 2

Mixed · 2The Crown alleges that in the early hours of 4 February Owens left his wife, Carla's mother, at home in Hartlepool without telling her and drove to Preston. He is said to have arrived alone at about 4am, parked away from the halls car park and covered himself with a blanket. About 90 minutes later he is said to have left wearing Carla's trainers and a face mask and shielding himself with an umbrella. 1 2 Mixed · 2Prosecutors say Owens had a one-sided sexual obsession with Carla. They allege he took covert photos of her, altered innocent images of her into sexual ones, and made videos involving dolls and a life-sized figure dressed in her nightdress. Mr Lumley called it a 'wholly improper and dangerously entrenched sexual obsession'. 1 2 Mixed · 2As a possible motive, Mr Lumley suggested sexual jealousy. Carla had begun a romantic online relationship with a young man in Romania and was due to travel there with a friend the next day. He also said 'We may never know' why Owens chose that night. 2 1

Mixed · 2The jury heard Owens' DNA and Carla's were found on sex toys in her room. Prosecutors say he later dumped items, including bloodstained clothing, her bedding and her phone and laptop, and that after police told the family her death looked self-inflicted he searched online for phrases such as 'police misinformed about cause of death', deleted more than 6,000 files and reset his phone. 2 1 Mixed · 2The Crown says Owens messaged Carla that her mother had left a purse behind, and that he did not tell his wife about the journey. When arrested, he gave a 'fleeting' denial of involvement and said nothing more in interview. 2 1 Mixed · 2The jury was told that Carla had once told a counsellor of suicidal thoughts some years earlier but had 'absolutely no intention' of harming herself, and that friends, medical staff and her mother had no concerns about her. The allegations are those of the prosecution, and the trial continues. 1 2