Judge's comments on 'sex obsessed' man who killed his stepdaughter: 'This illustrates how despicable you are'

A man who was said to be “sexually obsessed” with his 19-year-old stepdaughter has been jailed for life, with the judge describing him as “despicable”.

Nathan Owens, 34 from Hartlepool, will serve a minimum of 35 years after sexually assaulting and murdering his stepdaughter Carla Georgescu in her student flat, before staging the scene to look like she had taken her own life.

The 19-year-old had been studying clinical psychology at the University of Lancashire, and had planned to travel to Romania for her postgraduate studies.

On February 1, Carla’s mother Janina had come to stay with her in her university halls in Preston for a weekend of shopping ahead of Carla’s birthday.

It was the last time her mother would see her daughter alive.

Unbeknownst to Carla or Janina, Owens had long harboured a “sexual obsession” with his stepdaughter.

The court heard that he had edited childhood pictures of Carla into explicit images. Judge Mr Justice Jacobs said he had no desire to “pollute” the courtroom with further details of what investigators had found, though later said they included images of her “between two and four years old, with his penis superimposed near her open mouth”.

He had also created a life-sized “effigy” of her, which he had clothed in her nightdress, and filmed himself having sex with her dolls and toys.

Just days after seeing her over the weekend, on February 4, Owens travelled more than 100 miles from Hartlepool to Preston alone.

He had messaged Carla to say that he and her mother were coming to pick up a money purse they had left behind over the weekend.

He then parked in a side street, rather than his usual parking space, and covered his head with a blanket as Carla let him into her accommodation, Ribble Hall, at 4am that morning.

After following her to her room, Owens subjected Carla to a ‘violent’ sexual assault and murdered her. He then staged the scene to look like she had taken her own life.

90 minutes later, he left the building while hiding his face with a face mask, Carla’s umbrella, and while wearing a pair of Carla’s shoes.

In the hours that followed, Owens drove back home to Hartlepool, disposing of incriminating items beside a main road near Tebay, Cumbria.

These included bedding containing Carla’s DNA, a pair of socks, and a dildo.

The grey trainers he left the building in and the red pyjama bottoms Carla was last seen in have never been found.

Carla’s body was found after her mother Janina grew concerned she was not answering her messages. Owens had not mentioned he had ever left to see Carla at all.

On February 5 - Carla’s 20th birthday - Janina called campus security to do a welfare check, where they found Carla in her room.

Two days later, Owens was arrested on suspicion of murder, and later denied charges of murder and grievous bodily harm with intent - though admitted to two counts of making an indecent photograph of a child.

A post mortem examination found Carla had suffered two heavy blows to her head, strangulation, and tears to her vagina. She was also found with slash marks to her cheeks, and cuts and bruises to her mouth.

On Monday, Owens’ barrister, John Elvidge KC, told jurors that his client would not be giving evidence in his own defence, though police said he had made internet searches which included ‘I think the police think I’m guilty’.

However, after a three-week trial, jurors yesterday (October 22) unanimously found Owens guilty of murder after three hours of deliberation.

During today’s sentencing, Nathan Owens entered the court wearing a T-shirt, loose beige trousers, and a grey hoodie. He appeared relaxed during the hearing.

When the court read how he had disposed of evidence on the way to Hartlepool, he was seen frowning. When the court described the horrific injuries she endured, he started smirking.

When Mr Justice Jacobs said he had shown no remorse during the investigation or the proceedings, Nathan Owens shook his head. His lack of remorse and his attempts to “victim blame” by making her death look like suicide, the judge said, “further illustrates how despicable you are”.

After moving to the UK from Romania aged 12, Carla had endured her parents’ divorce and the death of her father in the first year of university, all while missing her home country deeply and feeling that she didn’t fit in.

“The evidence at the trial of her mother, friends and lecturers at university described a young woman who was down to Earth, with a good sense of humour, who was passionate about psychology that she was studying at university, and was polite, kind, intelligent, articulate, and lovely with a very gentle way,” Mr Justice Jacobs said.

“She was a very talented artist, and had completed the first draft of a book which she had also illustrated.

“Her achievements in her young life were impressive. She had arrived with her mother from Romania when she was around 12 in 2018, and worked hard, did well at school, gained a place at university, where she was also doing very well.

“Everything suggests that she would have gone on to make a great deal of her life. No words of mine can convey the horrific and almost unimaginable impact of the events of that night on her mother.”

During the sentencing, Mr Justice Jacobs said the the crime showed “a significant degree” of premeditation and planning.

He said he was sure that fatal violence had been part of his plan, as Nathan knew that Carla would be able to identify him to police after he sexually assaulted her.

“As her stepfather, [Nathan Owens] was able to trick his way into Carla’s company,” he said. “Her physical strength was different to that of the defendant, and in both of those, she was vulnerable.

“The last 90 minutes of Carla’s life are too horrendous even to think about. It is clear that Carla did try to put up a fight, and she was aware of what was happening to her, certainly when she was attacked with a knife and suffered defensive injuries.

“It is likely, and indeed it is to be hoped, that at some point she became unconscious as a result of the blows to her head, so that she was not aware of everything that happened to her. But I am sure that she suffered both mentally and physically during a material part of those 90 minutes.”

The only mitigating circumstances described by the court was the fact that Owens had never offended before.

Nonetheless, he was sentenced to life in prison for the sexual assault and murder of Carla.

He will serve a minimum of 35 years, with concurrent sentences for wounding and for each count of making indecent images of a child. If released before the end of his life sentence, he will remain on licence and liable to recall for the rest of his life.