A Chinese PhD student who drugged and raped 10 women in London and China has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years.
Zhenhao Zou, 28, kept a trophy box of women’s belongings and filmed nine of the rapes on women as they lost consciousness.
Three of the 10 victims have been identified, prosecutors say, but Metropolitan Police detectives fear he could have targeted dozens more women.
Sentencing Zou at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Rosina Cottage told him he would serve 22 years and 227 days before he was eligible for parole, taking into account time spent on remand.
The judge said the defendant is a “very bright young man” who used a manipulative “charming mask” to hide that he is a “sexual predator”.
She said that Zou “planned and executed a campaign of rape”, treating the women “callously” and as “sex toys” for his own pleasure, which had “devastating and long-term effects”.
The judge told the court that Zou has a “sexual interest” in “asserting power and control over women”, adding that the victims were “pieces in an elaborate game” for the defendant, who has “no understanding of the meaning of consent”.
After a month-long trial, Zou, who was most recently living in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, was found guilty of raping three women in London and another seven in China between September 2019 and May 2023.
He was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim.
Zou was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
Prosecutors said Zou appeared to be “a smart and charming young man”, but was in fact “a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist”.
He comes from a wealthy family, affording a Rolex, a wardrobe of designer clothes, cosmetic procedures such as a hair transplant and facial surgery, and thousands in monthly rent while living in London as an international engineering student.
Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China.
The student first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen’s University before heading to London in 2019 to do a master’s degree and then a PhD at University College London (UCL).
His crimes began to be uncovered in November 2023, when a woman went to police to allege she had been attacked by Zou.
There was not enough evidence to bring a criminal charge over the claim, but when Zou’s phone was seized officers found disturbing videos of him raping unconscious women, and pipettes and sedating drugs were discovered in his flat.
One of the identified women was raped after Zou pushed her to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and would not let her leave his flat in Elephant and Castle in May 2023.
She said in her victim impact statement: “I have lost faith in human beings, I have no trust in others. Before this incident, I was not aware that a human could do such evil things. When I meet with strangers, I get flashbacks of what he did.”
A second identified woman, who is now living in China, was also raped by Zou in his student flat near Russell Square in October 2021 when she was unconscious, the court heard.
She said: “I know words will never fully convey the depth of this wound. But one thing is certain, what happened that night is etched into my soul forever.
“His face, his expression – they will never leave me. I will never forgive him.”
Scotland Yard said 24 women came forward following publicity in the media around Zou’s trial to say they think they may have been attacked by him.
Prosecutors say among them was a victim in China, known as Female D.
In her statement, she wrote of being “trapped in self-blame”, “gagged by shame” and being “haunted” by nightmares of what happened.
Commander Kevin Southworth, of the Metropolitan Police said: “I hope the fact Zou can no longer harm others serves as a small amount of comfort to the women who have suffered immeasurably.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to stress that our investigation remains open and we continue to appeal to anyone who may think they have been a victim of Zou.
“Please come forward and speak with our team – we will treat you with empathy, kindness and respect.”
Saira Pike, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Zou is a “serial rapist and a danger to women”.
She added: “I’d like to take this opportunity to once again express my heartfelt thanks to the courageous women who came forward to report Zou’s horrific crimes.
“They have been incredibly strong and brave – there is no doubt that their evidence helped us to secure his conviction, and the life sentence handed to him today.”
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