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A sexually fixated killer who smiled and flicked his hair in court has been convicted of murdering his 19-year-old stepdaughter at her university accommodation following a calculated overnight journey. Nathan Owens, 34, strangled clinical psychology student Carla Georgescu at Ribble Hall, her block of student flats at the University of Lancashire in Preston, during the early hours of February 4. Following a three-week trial at Preston Crown Court, jurors deliberated for just over three hours before returning a unanimous guilty verdict against Owens, who sat in the glass-panelled dock with crossed legs and an indifferent demeanour. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that sentencing will take place on Friday, with the defendant facing a mandatory life imprisonment term.
The horrific details unspooled during proceedings revealed a harrowing narrative of deceit, obsession, and meticulous cover-up attempts. Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC detailed how Owens drove more than 100 miles through the night from Hartlepool to Preston, arriving at approximately 4am. Carla, wearing a fluffy dressing gown and pyjamas, unwittingly let her stepfather into her room after he hid his head beneath a patterned blanket. Investigators established that Owens was driven by intense sexual jealousy and an escalating, depraved fascination with the young student. He had recently discovered that Carla was planning a trip to her native Romania to meet a man she had been romantically involved with online. Daily Dazzling Dawn learned that Owens's secret depravity involved taking covert photographs of his stepdaughter in her underwear and performing sexual acts with a life-sized effigy clothed in her nightdress. When confronted inside her room, prosecutors suggested Owens treated the intelligent and gentle student like a doll, murdering her when she rejected his advances.
The gravity of the crime was initially obscured when police discovered Carla's body slumped against a wardrobe door with a belt around her neck on February 5, which would have been her 20th birthday. Emergency responders initially treated the tragic scene as a suspected suicide. However, rigorous police work quickly dismantled Owens's fabricated alibi. CCTV footage proved conclusively that his psychotherapist wife, Janina Georgescu, did not accompany him to Preston, contrary to his claims. Furthermore, telematics data extracted from the couple's Ford Puma mapped his exact route home, leading search teams to discover discarded crucial evidence, including Carla's mobile phone, bloodied bedding, and a blood-stained T-shirt in surrounding areas. Daily Dazzling Dawn notes that within hours of the murder, Owens had actively searched online for police investigative methods regarding suspicious deaths while systematically wiping his electronic devices.
Detective Inspector Pete Macdonald of Lancashire Police reflected on the devastating tragedy, emphasizing that Carla was a promising young woman with her whole life ahead of her, robbed of her future by someone entrusted with her safety. Alongside the murder conviction, a jury also found Owens guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent. Legal experts anticipate a severe minimum term when the presiding judge delivers the final sentence later this week, bringing a measure of accountability to a grieving family and community still reeling from the profound shock of the crime.
