A Chinese post-graduate student convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China and suspected of having attacked more was on Thursday jailed for life by a London court.<\/p>\n
And London police say they have evidence to suggest he could have targeted more than 50 other women.<\/p>\n
Serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, 28 \u2014 described in court as \u201ccalculated and predatory\u201d \u2014 targeted young Chinese women who he invited to his London flat for drinks or to study before drugging and attacking them.<\/p>\n
Zou filmed nine of the rapes with hidden or handheld cameras but only two of the 10 victims have ever been identified.<\/p>\n
Sentencing him at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Rosina Cottage said there was \u201cno doubt that you planned and executed a campaign of rape\u201d that had caused \u201cdevastating and long term effects\u201d.<\/p>\n
To the world, he appeared \u201cwell to do, ambitious and charming\u201d, but this was a mask hiding a \u201csexual predator\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n
He treated his victims \u201ccallously\u201d as \u201csex toys\u201d for his own gratification and \u201cdesire to assert power over women\u201d, which meant he would be a \u201crisk for an indefinite period\u201d.<\/p>\n
Zou, wearing a dark suit and glasses, listened impassively in the dock to the sentence via a translator. He will spend a minimum of 22 years in jail, after accounting for time already spent in custody.<\/p>\n
The former engineering student at University College London was found guilty by a jury in March of 28 offences including 11 counts of rape \u2014 with two of the counts relating to one woman \u2014 three counts of voyeurism and one of false imprisonment.<\/p>\n
He was found guilty of raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n
He was also convicted of three counts of possessing butanediol \u2014 an industrial solvent \u2014 with intent to commit a sexual offence and 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image.<\/p>\n
\u2018Prolific\u2019 rapist
\nVictims told the sentencing hearing in impact statements of the psychological damage they suffered, including nightmares, self-harm and a sense of despair and isolation.<\/p>\n
One recalled \u201cwandering like a trapped animal trying to find an exit\u201d after she was attacked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened that night is etched on my soul\u201d, she said, adding that Zou\u2019s family was \u201cvery powerful in China\u201d and she feared he would \u201cseek revenge\u201d.<\/p>\n
After the sentence, Saira Pike of the Crown Prosecution Service said: \u201cZou is a serial rapist and a danger to women.\u201d Pike added that analysis of footage and web chats showed the former student\u2019s \u201cmeticulous planning and the horrifying execution of his crimes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since he was convicted, and following an international appeal by UK police, over 20 women have come forward to say they might have been sexually assaulted by Zou. London\u2019s Met police have said they have evidence to suggest he could have targeted more than 50 other women and urged possible victims to come forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven how prolific Zou seems to have been, there is every potential he could be one of the most prolific offenders that we\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d the Met\u2019s Commander Kevin Southworth said.<\/p>\n
Southworth said 24 potential victims had already contacted officers from \u201cdifferent parts of the globe\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be\u2026 here in London, and over in China.\u201d<\/p>\n
But given how \u201cactive and prolific\u201d Zou appeared to have been, there was \u201cevery prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
The Met said earlier officers were compiling a file of new evidence to be submitted to prosecutors after Zou\u2019s sentencing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Chinese post-graduate student convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China and suspected of having attacked more was on Thursday jailed for life by a London court. And London police say they have evidence to suggest he could have targeted more than 50 other women. Serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, 28 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-and-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10147,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10145\/revisions\/10147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}