London student 'may have raped 100 women'

Police fear a PhD student convicted yesterday of drugging and raping 10 women could be one of the worst sexual offenders in British history, after recovering videos of him attacking a further 50 victims.

- Vikram Dodd

Zhenhao Zou, 28, was convicted of raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2024. He filmed most of his rapes, and the videos provided crucial evidence leading to his facing years in jail.

Most of his victims, who in the videos were unconscious or stupefied because of the drugs he had given them, are as yet unidentified. He ignored their pleas to stop his attacks as they lost consciousness after being drugged, the videos played in court showed.

Some victims may not even know they were attacked because of the effect of the drugs Zou slipped them. Some jurors were in tears as they watched the videos of his attacks.

The Guardian understands 32 videos Zou made were of rapes carried out in Britain. Detectives who investigated him believe he may have around 100 victims, in Britain and China. One new potential victim has come forward in the last week, with more expected after news of his convictions and method of offending becomes more widely known.

In all, 58 videos of rapes by Zou were recovered by police, with his victims being young women of Chinese heritage. Detectives are still examining a huge amount of evidence, including millions of social media messages in Mandarin.

Zou told the jury at Inner London crown court that he was a user of extreme pornography who was aroused most by watching videos of sex with unconscious women, as well as by rape role play.