Another 23 women tell police they fear they were attacked by serial rapist

More than 20 new women have contacted detectives to say they fear they may have been attacked by the serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, with officers fearing that further potential victims will come forward.

- Vikram Dodd

Zou, 28, was convicted last month of raping three women in London and seven in China from 2019 to 2024.

A senior police officer told the Guardian that a second criminal trial of Zou, who was a PhD student in London, was now likely.

He filmed many of his rapes and the videos provided key evidence leading to his convictions. Most victims were drugged and they had little or no memory of his attacks.

A cache of 58 videos was recovered by detectives believed to show Zou attacking women. The vast majority of victims had still to be identified when he was found guilty.

After his conviction the Metropolitan police appealed for victims to come forward and today said 23 had done so in just over four weeks, all describing the same method of attack by Zou.

One is believed to be a woman Zou has been already convicted of attacking, with the other 22 thought to be previously unknown to police.