PhD student Zhenhao Zou guilty of drugging and raping 10 women in London and China

Zhenhao Zou, 28, was convicted by a London court

A student has been found guilty of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China over a four-year period.

Zhenhao Zou, 28, filmed himself sexually assaulting nine of his victims and kept the videos as souvenirs. Only two have been identified.

Described in court as ‘a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist’, he carried out the attacks between September 2019 and May 2023 while a PhD student at UCL.

Using the name ‘Pakho’ online, he would befriend fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London and China.

{“@context”:”https://schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”name”:”Metro.co.uk”,”duration”:”T3M43S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/03/05/14/95869969-0-image-a-10_1741186556391.jpg”,”uploadDate”:”2025-03-05T14:55:17+0000″,”description”:”A Chinese PhD student convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in London and China is feared to have targeted more than 50 more potential victims.nnZhenhao Zou, 28, was convicted of the harrowing attacks involving two women who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced.”,”contentUrl”:”https://videos.metro.co.uk/video/met/2025/03/05/3492350552041669761/480x270_MP4_3492350552041669761.mp4″,”height”:270,”width”:480}

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video

Up Next

window.addEventListener(‘metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded’, function(data) {
if (typeof(data.detail) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === ‘undefined’) {
return;
}
var player = data.detail.carousel.el_;
var container = player.closest(‘.metro-video-player’);
var placeholder = container.querySelector(‘.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder’);
container.removeChild(placeholder);
container.classList.add(‘metro-video-player–related-videos-loaded’);
});

Two of the women have been identified while the other eight are yet to be traced.

The mechanical engineering student showed no visible reaction as he was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.

He was cleared of two counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image and one of possession of MDMA with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Camera used to film two alleged rapes which was shown to the jury during the trial of Zhenhao Zou. Issue date: Thursday January 30, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story COURTS Zou. Photo credit should read: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. — The camera Zou used to film two of the rapes (Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)

One of the women, who Zou attacked at his Elephant and Castle home on May 18, 2023, told the court: ‘He forced me to stay at his place and after a lot of alcohol he still wouldn’t allow me to go and dragged me into his room and raped me.’

She had tried to leave the flat, where they had been drinking wine, after starting to feel uncomfortable.

This Is Not Right

On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.

Throughout the year we will be bringing you stories that shine a light on the sheer scale of the epidemic.

With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to engage and empower our readers on the issue of violence against women.

You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@metro.co.uk.

Read more:

When Zou refused to let her leave, the woman found herself on the floor crying as she tried to escape.

He dragged her back into the flat and forced her to drink a large glass of vodka.

In a previous attack, another woman tried to get Zou to stop before she lost consciousness.

Items Zou kept in a ‘lost property box’ in his wardrobe (Picture: Met Police)

Video footage showed her saying ‘I really don’t want… I beg you, don’t do this’, to which Zou responded by saying his bedroom’s sound insulation was ‘very good’.

In his wardrobe, Zou kept a box of women’s belongings, including a sock, hairbands, a key, earrings and lipstick.

He described it as a ‘lost property box’. The prosecution called it a ‘trophy box’.

It was from this wardrobe that he retrieved a woman’s underwear as she searched for it the morning after he raped her in 2023.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

PhD student Zhenhao Zou guilty of drugging and raping 10 women in London and China

This Is Not Right

Leave a Reply Cancel reply