Chinese PhD student jailed for life with minimum term of 24 years after drugging and raping 10 women
Zhenhao Zou, 28, was convicted of the harrowing attacks involving two women who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced.
He kept a trophy box of women's belongings and filmed nine of the attacks, with jurors in the case forced to watch the disturbing footage.
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Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
British survivor of Laos methanol poisoning reveals he's been left permanently blind after drinking batch of tainted whisky and vodka shots that killed six others
A man who was blinded after drinking bootleg alcohol in Laos has described the moment he saw a 'kaleidoscopic bright light' before losing his vision. Calum Macdonald, 23, was among several tourists who were unknowingly poisoned after drinking free whisky and vodka shots at a hostel in Vang Vieng last year. Six people who also drank at the hostel later died of methanol poisoning, including Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent. Police in Laos have previously detained several people in connection with the deaths. Methanol is sometimes used by disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol but can cause severe poisoning or death. Calum had been mixing the spirits with soft drinks and it was only until the next day that he realised something might be wrong with his sight. He told how he was on a bus crossing into Vietnam with a group of friends when he began having a 'kaleidoscopic, blinding light in my eyes', moments before everything went dark. When the group arrived at their hotel in Hanoi, Calum was unable to see where he was walking and when they eventually sat down in their room, he wondered why everything was still pitch black. 'Why are we sitting in the dark here?,' he asked his friends. They told him the lights were already on. Calum was rushed to hospital and said on the journey there he 'really started to struggle to breathe' and could 'barely get my words out'. He said a number of tests were carried out initially but it was not until he got back to England when he was in hospital and they 'really sort of indicated that it was definitely related to something I'd been drinking'. Calum is now speaking out as he wants information to be available to people about methanol poisoning, especially students who might be preparing to go on a gap year. Methanol poisoning can be incredibly deadly, with fatality rates as high as 50 per cent, and just 15ml of liquid (half a shot) enough to kill you. The colourless liquid produces toxic chemicals that attack the body's cells, leading to organ damage and in some cases death. Subtle symptoms of the problem can also include confusion, dizziness, drowsiness, vomiting and abdominal and muscle pain. It can also cause changes in vision, due to the way the substance damages sensitive cells in the eyes. In severe cases, as with what happened to Calum, it can lead to total blindness. Calum told BBC Breakfast: 'The point at which I really started to notice some strange side effects was we briefly got off the bus to cross the border into Vietnam, and we went through the border office - we had to fill out a number of forms to get across to the other side - and at that point, sort of my entire vision was engulfed in this blinding white light. 'And I just thought, you know, this is very strange. I couldn't actually see where I was walking.' He added: 'We arrived in Hanoi, and at that point, the kind of white light in my eyes had diminished, and it wasn't until we got to our hotel room and my friends and I were sitting in the room, and I said to my friends, why are we sitting in the dark here? 'Let's turn on a light. And they informed me that the light was, in fact, already on.' Calum, who is now permanently blind, has been working with the families of three other Brits who died following the poisonings and is urging the Foreign Office to provide clearer warnings about countries where methanol poisoning is a risk. He said: 'I think I definitely feel a sense of responsibility as someone who's been lucky enough to survive this, to try and get the message out. Because I know certainly, if I'd known about it, I wouldn't be in this situation. 'And I know I have a lot of friends that have also done similar sort of gap years in travelling around even that particular area. And so definitely, I think it's quite important. 'I've had the opportunity to speak to a number of other families that have been affected by this, and they're far more knowledgeable and have been campaigning for awareness for a lot longer than I have been involved. And what they tend to say generally is that sometimes the advice isn't put in strong enough terms. 'I guess if I was to put out a recommendation to people, although I'm certainly not an expert or a medical professional, I would probably say that if you did want to drink alcohol in some of the affected countries, probably just to avoid spirits entirely. 'I think it would be nice, even if we could get some more information directly into universities, because I think that's the age of people that are really considering doing these kinds of trips, I think that would be a great thing.' Two of the people who died in the mass poisoning last November, Danish friends Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Sorensen, 21, had met Calum on a night out. The other victims in Laos were 57-year-old American James Huston, two 19-year-old Australian women Holly Morton-Bowles and Bianca Jones, and London solicitor Simone White, 28. Ms White and her best friend Bethany Clarke, both from Orpington in south-east London, had been backpacking across south-east Asia, starting in Cambodia - and had reached Laos full of excitement. The pair had spent the day tubing down the river - a popular tourist activity - before returning to their hostel for a night of drinking. Recalling the events that led to her best friend's death, Ms Clarke said: 'We had methanol-laced shots - we had five or six each, just mixing them with Sprite. 'The next morning, we didn't feel right, but we just assumed it was a hangover. It was strange, though - unlike any hangover I'd had before. 'It felt like being drunk but in a way where you couldn't enjoy it - something was just off.' Despite their condition, they continued with their plans - heading to the surrounding area's Blue Lagoon and kayaking down the river again. Ms Clarke added: 'We were just lying on the backs of the kayaks, too weak to paddle. Simone was being sick off one of them. 'Neither of us wanted to swim or eat - which, we later learned, are early signs of methanol poisoning.' After later boarding a bus to their next destination, Ms Clarke fainted and Ms White kept vomiting before both were taken to a local hospital that Ms Clarke has now described as 'very poor'. She added: 'They had no idea what was wrong. They talked about food poisoning, but we hadn't eaten the same things. It didn't make sense.' Still confused and deteriorating, the group then made it to a private hospital for Ms White to receive further treatment. Ms Clarke said: 'They told me they'd do all they could to save her. She was having seizures during dialysis. 'I was told at one point there was a 70 per cent chance she'd recover. I still had hope.' When Ms White's condition worsened, her mother Sue White flew out to Laos - arriving just as her daughter was being wheeled into emergency brain surgery. Ms Clarke added: 'Her brain had started to swell and they had to shave her head. The surgery relieved the pressure but caused bleeding and the other side started swelling.' The results confirming methanol poisoning would not arrive until two weeks later, by which time Ms White had died. Ms Clarke is now petitioning for methanol and bootleg alcohol awareness to be included in schools - teaching students the risks of unregulated drinks abroad. She and her supporters are planning a hard-hitting educational video, similar in tone to drink-driving public service announcements shown in schools. Her petition has so far garnered more than 12,000 signatures, surpassing her goal of 10,000. At 100,000 signatures, the petition will be considered for debate in Parliament The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been approached to comment.
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Watchmaker Swatch pulls 'slanted eye' advert after campaign sparked uproar in China
Swiss watch giant Swatch has been forced to pull an advert and issue an apology after a promotional image was accused of racism and triggered furious calls for a boycott in China. The campaign featured an Asian male model tugging at the corners of his eyes, a gesture widely slammed online as a racist depiction. Social media users in China branded the image offensive and demanded action against the brand. On Saturday, the company said it had 'taken note' of the backlash in posts on Instagram and the Chinese platform Weibo, writing that it had scrapped the campaign worldwide. 'We sincerely apologise for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused,' Swatch said. But the statement did little to calm anger - many users continued to urge shoppers to shun Swatch Group labels, which include luxury names such as Blancpain, Longines and Tissot. One Weibo commentator with more than a million followers accused the firm of 'racism against Chinese' and even called for regulators to punish the brand. Others accused Swatch of deliberate discrimination. One user wrote: 'The brand's image has collapsed. (Swatch) thinks they can just apologise and salvage everything? It's not that simple.' On X, many critics mentioned the company's official account and demanded an explanation. China is one of Swatch's biggest markets, but like other Western luxury houses the company has faced slowing demand. In July it reported sales had fallen 11.2 per cent in the first half of the year, blaming the drop 'exclusively' on weak consumer appetite in China. Last year, it was embroiled in a heated row with the Malaysian government when the countries seized several of its watches claiming it incorporated LGBTQ elements. A court finally ruled that the confiscated good should be returned. The latest scandal is the latest in a string of controversies over foreign advertising campaigns in the country. Dolce & Gabbana was forced to apologise in 2018 after releasing videos that showed a Chinese woman struggling to eat Italian food with chopsticks. The model in that photograph later said the controversy nearly ruined her career. And in 2023, Dior drew fury with an image of a model pulling at her eye in a similar gesture to the one now dropped by Swatch. Two years before that, a Chinese photographer apologised for being 'ignorant' after a picture she shot for the French label came under fire.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Kirkcaldy man jailed for 'appalling' abuse and rape of girls
A 34-year-old man has been jailed for 10 years after being convicted of an "appalling catalogue" of abuse and rapes of two teenage McRobie, of Kirkcaldy, struck one of the girls with a whip during his attacks on her, the High Court in Michael O'Grady KC said McRobie had a "deeply dangerous interest" in children and adolescent said: "The damage you have done to these young women is incalculable and I have no doubt its shadow will hang over them for the foreseeable future, perhaps forever." McRobie had denied a series of charges at an earlier trial but was convicted of 12 offences - including six of rape. All the crimes were committed in began assaulting and abusing his victims in March 2016 when one of the girls was 13 and the other was court heard that McRobie had possessed indecent images of children and also extreme judge said: "It is a statement of the obvious to say that you have been convicted of the most appalling catalogue of offences."He ordered that McRobie should be under supervision in the community for four years after his 10-year prison term, and could be sent back to jail if he breached his licence judge also made non-harassment orders prohibiting McRobie from contacting or attempting to contact his solicitor advocate Gordon Martin said McRobie had "a very difficult background" and was bullied at Martin told the court: "He is well aware he is going to be indefinitely on the sex offenders' register."
