Drug-rape PhD student Zhenhao Zou jailed for minimum of 24 years

A PhD student convicted of raping and drugging 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.”

She said 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”.

Judge Cottage added that Zou had a “sexual interest” in “asserting power and control over women”, and that the victims were “pieces in an elaborate game” for the defendant, who had “no understanding of the meaning of consent”.

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 convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim.

He 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.”

In a victim impact statement, a woman who was raped after Zou pushed her to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and would not let her leave his flat wrote the attack had “deeply affected” her personality.

“I have lost faith in human beings, I have no trust in others. Before this incident, I was not aware that a human could do such evil things. When I meet with strangers, I get flashbacks of what he did.”

A second identified woman, who is now living in China, was also raped by Zou in his student flat near Russell Square in October 2021 when she was unconscious.

She said: “I know words will never fully convey the depth of this wound. But one thing is certain, what happened that night is etched into my soul forever.

“His face, his expression – they will never leave me. I will never forgive him.”