A PhD student convicted of raping and drugging 10 women in London and China has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 24 years.
Zhenhao Zou, a Chinese national, raped three women in London and another seven in China between September 2019 and May 2023. He kept a trophy box of women’s belongings and filmed nine of the rapes, as the victims lost consciousness.
Three of the 10 victims have been identified, prosecutors say, but Metropolitan Police detectives fear he could have targeted dozens more women. Since the trial, 24 more potential victims have come forward.
Judge Rosina Cottage KC told Zou: “You appear to the world to be a very well to do man – you are also a sexual predator.”
This article contains distressing details
During sentencing at Inner London Crown Court, she added: “You told (the victims) that resistance was futile.
“Sometimes you would be begged to stop – you sought power over them – these women you treated callously and used them as sex toys for your pleasure.”
Judge Cottage said the court had watched videos of the rapes which were “extremely distressing”. “Some who watched, wept,” she said.
Zou, who was living in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, 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.
Judge Cottage told Zou: “You are a highly manipulative and intelligent young man – but you have no understanding of the meaning of consent.
“There is a high level of danger because of your distorted thinking – you are a risk for an indefinite period,” she said.
