# 'Depraved and cowardly' rapist may have attacked 50 more women

**Warning: This article contains distressing details and descriptions of rape**

When he was arrested in January 2024, serial rapist Zhenhao Zou was living on the 39th floor of an expensive block of London flats with views across the city.

A PhD student from China, he had been studying at University College London (UCL) and was paying more than £4,000 a month in rent.

Police found his bedroom had been equipped with hidden cameras and discovered a wardrobe stocked with alcohol, ecstasy, and an industrial chemical that the human body turns into the "date rape" drug GHB. He had a pipette for carefully measuring doses of the dangerous liquid.

But detectives also found 1,277 videos on his electronic devices. At least some were filmed by Zou showing him raping unconscious women.

The footage had been filmed in both the UK and China. Police were able to charge him with multiple assaults on women in both countries - including the rapes of women who have never come forward and have never been identified.

## 'Machiavellian individual'

Zou had been drugging young women and filming the attacks. He claimed he had been sleeping with five different women a month and taking cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy, and what he called "liquid E" - the "date rape" drug GHB.

He admitted that having sex with unconscious women was one of his fantasies, but he claimed the women in the videos found on his phone and cameras were "acting" - helping, he claimed, to bring his rape fantasies to life in exchange for money and gifts.

However, the jury ultimately decided he was a serial rapist who had been drugging young women and filming the attacks.

Zou has now been found guilty of 11 rapes of 10 different women - two who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced - across two different continents.

Detectives say they fear he may have raped as many as 50 more women.

"This man may well turn out to be one of the most prolific sexual predators that we've ever seen in this country," Commander Kevin Southworth, from the Metropolitan Police, told the BBC.

### 'I hate you'

Two of the most distressing videos showed the rape of Female A at Zou's student accommodation in Bloomsbury, central London. Police have never been able to establish who Female A is, and it is unclear if she was raped before or after Zou's trip to China during the pandemic.

At the start of the first video, Female A was seen to be unconscious, but woke and pleaded with Zou to stop. "I hate you," she can be heard saying.

"It's pointless," Zou replied. "The sound insulation here is very good."

The second video is similar. Both had been filmed on a tiny spy camera the size of a thumb, placed on a shelf on the other side of the room.

When detectives first found the videos, they could not extract the sound. At first Zou insisted the woman in the video was fully consenting to sex. But just before the trial, detectives managed to recover the sound, showing Female A was clearly under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and that she was begging him to stop.

Zou then changed his story, telling the jury it was "rape role play" and the young woman had been acting.

"Zou is plainly a depraved and cowardly individual who's preyed on his victim survivors in the most despicable manner," Commander Southworth said.

### 'Finish the drink'

Police found controlled drugs in Zou's flat.

The court heard they also found a yellow Fendi "trophy box" in the wardrobe containing jewellery and clothing which police think may have belonged to women he raped.

Police have not found any phones, computers, or cameras from his time in Belfast so they do not know if his campaign of drug rape had already begun while he was studying there.

UCL said Zou was suspended on 27 January 2024 and he stopped studying there "as soon we were informed about the allegations".

The university said its  was available for students and staff affected by the case and that it was supporting the police appeal.

Zou was found guilty of 11 charges of raping 10 women, three counts of voyeurism, three counts of possessing a controlled drug with intent to rape, and one count of false imprisonment.

The jury found him not guilty of charges of possessing MDMA, Ketamine, and Xanax with intent to rape. They also found him not guilty of two charges of possessing extreme pornography depicting rape.

Commander Southworth added: "We have video evidence of as many as potentially 50 further victim survivors who we are desperate to trace so that we can establish what has happened to them."

"Such is the insidious nature of this offending, I think there is a possibility that many more victim survivors may not even know that he has raped them," he added.

Detectives are asking any woman who may have spent any time alone with Zou - whether in China or in the UK - to come forward.

_Details of help and support with sexual violence are available at _
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