Chinese student who raped and drugged 10 women jailed for life

A Chinese PhD student who drugged and raped 10 women in London and China has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 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.

Judge Rosina Cottage, sentencing Zou to 22 years and 227 days at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, 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.

Published: 19/06/2025 by Radio NewsHub