Photo via Daily Mail

University student, 19, 'strangled to death' by stepfather who drove to her university halls after developing a 'sexual obsession' with her

Read the original at Daily Mail ↗
Cite

Tozer, J., & Leonard, I. (2026, October 6). University student, 19, 'strangled to death' by stepfather who drove to her university halls after developing a 'sexual obsession' with her. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16186889/Student-brutally-murdered-eve-20th-birthday-university-halls-stepfather.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Daily Mail · collected 2026-10-06 · by James Tozer, Ian Leonard

Quick Summary

Carla Georgescu, a 19-year-old second-year clinical psychology student at the University of Lancashire, was strangled to death in her campus flat on February 5 by her stepfather Nathan Owens, who is 34. Owens allegedly drove from Hartlepool to Preston after developing a dangerous sexual obsession with Carla following his marriage to her mother Janina. Prosecutors claim that Owens had been accumulating and manipulating images of Carla for months leading up to the murder and fabricated a story about collecting her mother's purse to cover his tracks.
Written by AI on 2026-10-06, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Carla Georgescu, a 19-year-old university student originally from Romania studying clinical psychology at University of Lancashire in Preston, was murdered by her stepfather Nathan Owens, who is accused of driving over 100 miles overnight from Hartlepool to strangle her. Carla's body was discovered on February 5, her 20th birthday, inside Ribble Hall, a student accommodation block at the university campus. The prosecution claims that Owens developed a dangerous sexual obsession with Carla after marrying her mother Janina and had allegedly sexually fixated himself on an effigy of his stepdaughter dressed in her nightdress. Owens is said to have arrived at Ribble Hall around 4am, concealing his face under a blanket, where he was let into the building by Carla before allegedly attacking her. Her death occurred after her mother raised concerns over Carla's unresponsiveness and alerted university security.

Written for “Stepfather Kills Stepdaughter At Univ…” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Stepfather Kills Stepdaughter At Univ…
Crime & Law · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 20% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
20%
4 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
68/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-06 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 8535 article(s) · 20 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 20 correction(s)

Who wrote this

James Tozer
24 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 He will be sentenced on Monday but the judge, Mrs Justice Brunner, told him: ‘There’s only one sentence which I can pass and it’s a life sentence.
🔮 'I hope today’s outcome will give them some comfort as they try to move forwards with their lives.'
🔮 Jobless Nathan Owens, 34, is set to be jailed for life today after a jury took just over three hours to convict him of murdering Carla Georgescu, 19.
🔮 His intention was ‘to satisfy his sexual needs, come what may’, prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC said in his closing speech.
🔮 A judge apologised to an Albanian cannabis farmer for jailing him on the day he turned 33, telling him: 'I hope there will be more pleasant birthdays in the future.'
🔮 'The Remembrance poppy is avowedly apolitical despite what some misguided people might say, and commemorates our war dead by bringing people together in the act of remembrance,' he said.
🔮 Her body was found the following day after her mother Janina called the university She became worried when Carla did not respond to her messages and phone calls, and the following day – which would have been Carla's 20th birthday – she contacted university security.
🔮 Interviewed by detectives, Rahman repeatedly replied ‘no comment’ when asked about the images on his mobile phone. But video released following his sentencing shows the sex offender’s arrogant façade crumbling when the interviewing officer asks how he would feel if his own child was targeted in that way, and he begins sobbing.
🔮 She became worried when Carla did not respond to her messages and phone calls, and the following day – which would have been Carla's 20th birthday – she contacted university security. They carried out a welfare check and discovered her body slumped against a wardrobe door with a belt around her neck, initially believing she had hanged herself.
🔮 He may have been motivated by 'sexual jealousy' after discovering the second year clinical psychology student was about to meet up with a man with whom she had struck up a romantic online relationship, prosecutors allege.
Also by James Tozer
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 24 articles by James Tozer →
Ian Leonard
7 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 He will be sentenced on Monday but the judge, Mrs Justice Brunner, told him: ‘There’s only one sentence which I can pass and it’s a life sentence.
🔮 She became worried when Carla did not respond to her messages and phone calls, and the following day – which would have been Carla's 20th birthday – she contacted university security. They carried out a welfare check and discovered her body slumped against a wardrobe door with a belt around her neck, initially believing she had hanged herself.
🔮 He may have been motivated by 'sexual jealousy' after discovering the second year clinical psychology student was about to meet up with a man with whom she had struck up a romantic online relationship, prosecutors allege.
🔮 Carla Georgescu's body was found on February 5, which would have been her 20th birthday, at Ribble Hall, a student accommodation block on the University of Lancashire campus in Preston.
🔮 He alleges she then asked if she could 'go home' with him and his friend because she 'didn't have enough money to get home'.
🔮 In what a judge today praised as a 'remarkable' piece of bravery and presence of mind, despite fearing she would be murdered, the schoolgirl secretly placed strands of her hair around the interior of Sharpe's car during her 'harrowing' ordeal in a bid to ensure traces of her DNA would later be found.
Also by Ian Leonard
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 7 articles by Ian Leonard →

Topics

Hartlepool Preston Preston Crown Court Romania University of Lancashire

Subjects

Carla PERSON · 13× Owens PERSON · 9× Nathan Owens PERSON · 3× Hartlepool GPE · 2× Janina PERSON · 2× Lumley PERSON · 2× Romania GPE · 2× Carla Georgescu's PERSON · 1× Preston PERSON · 1× University of Lancashire ORG · 1×

Narrative

He said Owens had learned that Carla had struck up a romantic online relationship with a young man from Romania, whom she had yet to meet, and was due to travel with a friend to meet him in person the next day.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-06
🔮 Carla Georgescu's body was found on February 5, which would have been her 20th birthday, at Ribble Hall, a student accommodation block on the University of Lancashire campus in Preston.

Claims (20 extracted, 4 hedged)

A 19-year-old university student was murdered in her flat on campus by her stepfather after he developed a 'dangerous sexual obsession' with her, a court heard today. asserted
court → murder → her
Carla Georgescu's body was found on February 5, which would have been her 20th birthday, at Ribble Hall, a student accommodation block on the University of Lancashire campus in Preston. asserted
which → find → Preston
The second year clinical psychology student, originally from Romania, was allegedly strangled and murdered by her stepfather Nathan Owens, 34. He is said to have driven through the night from the family home, possibly motivated by 'sexual jealousy' after discovering she was about to meet up with a man with whom she had struck up a romantic online relationship. Preston Crown Court heard how Owens became 'sexually fixated' with Carla after marrying her mother Janina. The pair had moved to the UK when Carla was 12 after Janina had separated from her daughter's father. The prosecution allege that Owens drove from Hartlepool in the early hours of February 4 and attacked Carla in her student flat. uncertain
Owens → strangle → flat
Her body was discovered by concerned university staff the following day in what jurors were told was a 'disturbing scene'. asserted
jurors → discover → staff
Carla Georgescu, 19, a second year clinical psychology student at the University of Lancashire, was allegedly strangled and murdered by her stepfather Nathan Owens, 34, after he became 'dangerous sexually obsessed' with her Carla was found slumped against a wardrobe door in a near-seated position, with injuries to her face and a leather belt 'drawn tightly' around her neck. Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecuting, said: 'Her death was the culmination, the end point, of weeks, months and perhaps years of a one-sided sexual obsession. uncertain
death → strangle → obsession
And it was the beginning of a complex murder investigation, which led to his door in Hartlepool. asserted
which → lead → Hartlepool
'For it was he who was sexually fixated on Carla and it was he, Nathan Owens, who had killed Carla. asserted
who → kill → Carla
' Owens is said to have concocted a story about visiting Carla's flat to collect her mother's purse, which she had supposedly left during a previous visit a few days earlier. asserted
she → say → visit
But Owens did not tell his wife about the journey, the jury heard, and arrived alone before entering at around 4am and leaving 90 minutes later. asserted
jury → tell → am
The prosecution allege that in the months and weeks leading up to Carla's murder he had amassed material on her, which included 'manipulating' and 'sexualising' images of her. asserted
which → allege → her
He allegedly took photos of Carla without her knowledge, focusing on her bottom, part of an 'escalating pattern' in his 'sexual fascination' with her. uncertain
He → take → her
He filmed himself having sex with her dolls and toys, one of which was a life-sized 'effigy' that he'd clothed in her nightdress, and he manipulated an innocent image of her so it appeared sexual, he added. asserted
he → film → her
Owens also made and watched videos of him using sex toys and accessed further images of Carla, 'deriving sexual satisfaction' from them, jurors were told. asserted
jurors → make → them
Mr Lumley said that Owens developed a 'wholly improper and dangerously entrenched sexual obsession' with Carla which drove him to visit her that day. asserted
which → say → her
He said Owens had learned that Carla had struck up a romantic online relationship with a young man from Romania, whom she had yet to meet, and was due to travel with a friend to meet him in person the next day. asserted
she → say → person
Mr Lumley suggested that 'sexual jealousy' and the fact Owens 'didn't want her to be romantically involved with someone else' may have motivated him. uncertain
her → suggest → him
The jury heard that although Carla had recently expressed to a counsellor that she'd had suicidal thoughts some years ago, she had 'absolutely no intention' of harming herself. asserted
she → hear → herself
Friends and medical staff also did not have concerns for her, while her mother found her behaviour 'normal' in the days before she died. asserted
she → have → days
Owens denies charges of murder, intentional strangulation and grievous bodily harm with intent. asserted
Owens → deny → intent
The trial continues. asserted
trial → continue → ?
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support