Umair
More than 20 women have come forward with allegations against a Chinese student in London who was convicted last month of drugging and raping 10 women in Britain and China.
The Metropolitan Police in London said that 23 women had contacted them with new reports about Zou Zhenhao, 28, after he was convicted in the city last month. Some of the women live in Britain, while others live in China and other parts of the world, the police said in a statement on Wednesday. The police have previously said they believe that Mr. Zou may have attacked more than 50 women, based on hundreds of videos stored on his devices.
Mr. Zou was a Ph.D student at University College London between 2019 and 2024. During his weekslong trial earlier this year in London, the court heard that he would lure women to his apartments in the city and in China, and rape them.
Mr. Zou met the women on dating apps like Bumble and on online platforms, including the Chinese social media apps WeChat and Little Red Book, according to the police. He targeted Chinese students living in London, officers said, whom he may also have met at parties and student gatherings.
On March 5, a jury found Mr. Zou guilty of 11 counts of rape, as well as of charges related to the possession of drugs intended for use in a sexual assault, voyeurism, and the possession of extreme pornography, prosecutors said.
Two women testified against Mr. Zou in court, but eight others remain unidentified, the police said. Because the women were drugged, the police believe that some may not know what happened to them. With the conviction secured, the police issued a public appeal for more victims to come forward.
After arresting Mr. Zou in January 2024, police investigators uncovered hundreds of videos on his devices, which appeared to depict him raping and sexually assaulting multiple women. Officers also trawled through thousands of gigabytes of data that traced a pattern of Mr. Zou’s crimes.
Once the women were in his apartment, the police said, he would offer them a drink laced with a substance that investigators believe was butanediol, a chemical that converts to GHB, a notorious date rape drug that depresses the central nervous system. When the women were unconscious, he raped and sexually assaulted them, while filming himself, the police said.
The women’s faces were often hidden or obscured, making it difficult for investigators to identify them. But the police said that Mr. Zou often kept souvenirs of his victims, and officers found items of jewelry and clothing in his apartment.
The police believe Mr. Zou followed the same tactics when he was living in China, with video evidence indicating that some of the attacks took place there. British police worked with their counterparts in China to find one of the women who testified against him.
Before moving to London, Mr. Zou studied at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“Zhenhao Zou is a dangerous and prolific sexual predator, who manipulated and drugged women in order to prey on them in the most cowardly way,” Kevin Southworth, a commander in the Metropolitan Police, said in a statement.
The police said that as part of their update on Wednesday they were also appealing again for any women who think they may have been attacked by Mr. Zou to come forward. “Officers believe that there are still more victim-survivors to be traced,” the statement said.
A judge will sentence Mr. Zou on June 19.
