A stepfather accused of murdering a 19-year-old university student was filmed arriving at her accommodation with his head concealed beneath a blanket, a court has heard.
Nathan Owens, 34, allegedly drove overnight from the family home in Hartlepool to Ribble Hall, student accommodation at the University of Lancashire in Preston, where prosecutors say he strangled Carla Georgescu.
Jurors at Preston Crown Court were shown footage of Owens parking his Ford Puma at about 4am on February 4. He was then seen walking towards the building alone, with a patterned blanket over his head.
Further footage showed him leaving around an hour and a half later with an umbrella and face mask, allegedly attempting to shield his identity. He was wearing Carla’s trainers and carrying two bags, the court heard.
Prosecutors allege Owens returned to the flat after telling Carla he needed to collect her mother’s purse. They say he attacked her before leaving the scene, disposing of evidence and attempting to conceal what had happened.
Owens drove back to Hartlepool without telling his wife, Janina Georgescu, about the late-night journey. She told the court that he did not mention visiting Carla until after police informed the couple that her body had been found.
He allegedly claimed Carla had asked him to bring incontinence pants and help tidy her room. The prosecution say that explanation was an attempt to “cover his tracks” and “keep his wife onside”.
Prosecution alleges sexual fixation
The prosecution alleges Owens was motivated by “sexual jealousy” after learning that Carla was due to meet a man with whom she had formed a romantic relationship online.
They say his alleged “escalating fascination” with his stepdaughter included taking photographs of her without her knowledge, filming himself with her dolls and toys, and having sex with a life-sized effigy dressed in her nightdress.
Owens is also alleged to have manipulated an innocent image of Carla so that it appeared sexual, made videos involving sex toys and accessed further images of her for sexual gratification. Prosecutors described the alleged conduct as a “one-sided sexual obsession” that had developed over weeks, months or possibly years.
Carla had been studying clinical psychology in her second year. Her mother had travelled by train from Hartlepool to Preston on February 1 for an early birthday meal at a Korean restaurant, ahead of Carla’s planned trip to Romania to meet her online boyfriend for the first time.
Footage shown to the jury showed Carla and Owens looking at their phones after being left alone at the restaurant table. Owens later drove back to Hartlepool with Mrs Georgescu.
When Carla stopped responding to messages and calls, her mother contacted university security the following day, which would have been Carla’s 20th birthday. Staff carried out a welfare check and found her body slumped against a wardrobe door with a belt around her neck, initially believing she had taken her own life.
Owens was arrested the day after Carla’s body was discovered. His DNA was found at the scene, the court heard.
The jury was also told that Carla had experienced depression after moving to the UK from Romania at the age of 12, and had suffered pain linked to endometriosis. In the month before her death, she had contacted NHS mental health services and answered “yes” when asked in an online triage questionnaire whether she was thinking about ending her life.
However, when a doctor later asked whether she was suicidal, Carla said she was “OK now” and was advised to speak to her GP about treatment for depression.
Owens denies murder, intentional strangulation and grievous bodily harm with intent. The trial continues.
