One of the UK’s most prolific sex offenders could face fresh charges after 23 more women came forward to say they may have been raped by him.
Zhenhao Zou was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women but is suspected of attacking at least 50 more victims he met online and lured to his flat. An international appeal was launched to trace other victims, many of whom may still be unaware they were attacked because they were unconscious at the time after being given MDMA, GHB or ketamine.
Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “Given how prolific Zou seems to have been, there is every potential he could be one of the most prolific offenders that we’ve ever seen in this space.” The vile 28-year-old filmed nine of the assaults as “souvenirs”, and kept a trophy box of women’s belongings.
Previously only two victims had been identified with the rest yet to be traced after being attacked in London and China. Detectives have yet to confirm whether the 23 people who have recently come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women from across the globe may have been targeted by Zou.
Work is underway to see if the new potential cases could result in Zou facing further charges, according to Mr Southworth, who appealed for others who have concerns to come forward.
He said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe. At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.
“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world. We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.
“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”
Zou targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them. His trial at Inner London Crown Court heard how the mechanical engineering student appeared “smart and charming”. But prosecutor
Catherine Farrelly KC said: “He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and every woman’s nightmare. He is a serial rapist, he is a predator.” Zou lived in student flats near Russell Square in Central London, and later in Elephant and Castle, South London. He was studying for a master’s degree then PhD at University College London.
He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. The other offences he was convicted of included voyeurism and possession of extreme pornography.
Mr Southworth said: “We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”
The team of detectives needed to look at Zou’s potential crimes will have to increase and “more resources” will be put into the investigation.
Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”
Judge Rosina Cottage branded him a “dangerous and predatory sexual offender” after he was found guilty of 28 offences and warned him he faces a “very long” time in jail. He is due to be sentenced in June.
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