Chinese Ph.D. student sentenced to at least 24 years in jail for raping multiple women in UK and China
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Police call Zou 'one of the most prolific predators'
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A Chinese student has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 24 years by a London court after he was found guilty of drugging and raping 10 women in England and China. The convict was identified as a PhD student, Zhenhao Zou, 28. He was convicted of the attacks, which took place between 2019 and 2023, during a four-week trial earlier in 2025 at Inner London Crown Court.Police in London say they have evidence to suggest he may have targeted more than 50 other women. According to AFP, serial rapist Zou, described in court as "calculated and predatory," targeted young Chinese women whom he invited to his London flat for drinks or to study before drugging and attacking them. He filmed nine of the rapes with hidden or handheld cameras, but only three of the 10 victims have ever been identified.While sentencing him at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Rosina Cottage said there was "no doubt that you planned and executed a campaign of rape" that had caused "devastating and long-term effects," AFP reported. To the world he appeared "well-to-do, ambitious, and charming," but this was a mask hiding a "sexual predator," she said.He treated his victims "callously" as "sex toys" for his own gratification, and his desire to assert "power and control over women" meant that he would be a "risk for an indefinite period," she added.Zou was found guilty in March of 28 offenses, including 11 counts of rape, after a trial at Inner London Crown Court. At Thursday's sentencing he was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 24 years, minus time he had already spent in custody. According to Reuters, Judge Cottage said Zou was "a highly manipulative and intelligent young man who gave no thought at all to the wishes and feelings of the women" he attacked.Detective Inspector Richard MacKenzie from London's Metropolitan Police said outside court, "The sheer scale of his offending, which spanned two countries, makes him one of the most prolific predators we have ever seen."The police previously said detectives believe there may be more than 50 other women who may have been victims of Zou and have not yet been identified. Originally from Dongguan in Guangdong Province, the student is thought to have moved to the United Kingdom in 2017 and began studying for a PhD at University College London in 2019.After a woman came forward to report Zou, police said they found drugs and hidden cameras in his home, while hundreds of videos and millions of messages on his laptops and phones showed that he had committed offenses not just in Britain but in his homeland.
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