Zhenhao Zou, a 28-year-old Chinese national and former PhD student at University College London, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 24 years after being found guilty of raping 10 women in London and China between 2019 and 2023. Zou’s crimes, described by police as among the most prolific they have ever encountered, involved drugging his victims and filming nine of the assaults as they lost consciousness. While only three of the women have been identified, investigators believe there could be as many as 50 additional victims, many of whom may not even realize they were attacked due to memory loss caused by the drugs.

Zou’s method involved targeting women he met through the student community, social media, and dating apps, often inviting them to his residences in London or China. He would incapacitate his victims with a combination of drugs and alcohol, then proceed to assault them while recording the acts with hidden or handheld cameras. The court heard that Zou kept a trophy box containing personal belongings of his victims as souvenirs of his crimes, further underscoring the calculated nature of his actions.

The trial at Inner London Crown Court revealed the disturbing extent of Zou’s offenses, with jurors forced to watch hours of footage he had recorded. Zou was also convicted on related charges, including voyeurism, possession of extreme pornographic images, false imprisonment, and drug offenses. Despite his claims that the encounters were consensual, the evidence presented was overwhelming, leading to his conviction on all 11 counts of rape.

Victim impact statements read out in court described the lasting trauma suffered by the women, with one saying she was “haunted” by the attack and another stating she still felt “sick” as a result. The Metropolitan Police have launched an international appeal to identify further victims, as more than 20 women have already come forward since Zou’s conviction, fearing they too may have been targeted by him.