Chinese PhD student jailed for life for raping 10 women offered to be chemically castrated for lighter sentence

19 June 2025, 14:44 | Updated: 19 June 2025, 14:54

A Chinese PhD student who drugged and raped 10 women in London and China was today jailed for life with a minimum of 24 years.

Zhenhao Zou, 28, offered himself up for chemical castration in the hope of a shorter sentence, the court was told, ahead of the judge handing him a life term.

During the trial, it was revealed that Zou kept a trophy box of women's belongings and filmed nine of the rapes on women as they lost consciousness.

Three of the 10 victims have been identified, prosecutors say, but Metropolitan Police detectives fear he could have targeted as many as 24 more women.

Zou offered to be chemically castrated in the hope of receiving a lighter sentence and never to have sex again, but pre-sentence reports said his offer was not accepted - in recognition of the harm he caused.

Victims of have told of being "haunted" by his attacks.

At Zou's sentencing hearing at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, victim impact statements from the three identified women were read out.

One of them was raped after Zou pushed her to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and would not let her leave his flat in Elephant and Castle in May 2023.

She wrote in her statement: "I cannot determine how long this incident will affect me, but I know that the impact has deeply affected my personality, and it will likely persist long-term. I no longer believe in the inherent goodness of people, because I have never encountered such severe criminal behaviour before.

"I am constantly confused about why some people are capable of doing such terrible things. When I recall that night, I think I should have done more, perhaps I should have screamed and called the police, instead of just screaming, which didn't change much.

"Maybe I should have destroyed his belongings, but I didn't do any of that. This sense of guilt has continued to haunt me."

She added: "I have lost faith in human beings, I have no trust in others. Before this incident, I was not aware that a human could do such evil things. When I meet with strangers, I get flashbacks of what he did."

The woman told of feeling "fear" towards Zou, saying his family is "very powerful" in China.

A second woman, who is now living in China, was also raped by Zou in his student flat near Russell Square in October 2021 when she was unconscious, the court heard.

She said in her statement: "I experienced for the first time a loss of consciousness. I opened my eyes for a few seconds during the sexual assault in his room, he was thrusting violently against my body.

"I was completely powerless and could only use all my strength to tell him I was menstruating and demand he stop his actions.

"Although I lost consciousness just moments later, his face in that moment will clearly stay in my mind forever. As a result, I now experience severe physical and psychological distress."

The woman also told of feeling "waves of nausea and disgust" after she was attacked.

She added: "I know words will never fully convey the depth of this wound. But one thing is certain, what happened that night is etched into my soul forever. His face, his expression - they will never leave me. I will never forgive him."

More than 20 women contacted the force following publicity in the media around Zou's trial to say they think they may have been attacked by him.

Prosecutors say among them was a victim in China, known as Female D.

In her statement, she wrote of being "trapped in self blame", "gagged by shame" and being "haunted" by nightmares of what happened.

After a month-long trial, Zou, who was most recently living in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, was found guilty of raping three women in London and another seven in China between September 2019 and May 2023.

He was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim.

Zou 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.

Prosecutors said Zou appeared to be "a smart and charming young man", but was in fact "a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist".

He comes from a wealthy family, affording a Rolex, a wardrobe of designer clothes, cosmetic procedures such as a hair transplant and facial surgery, and thousands in monthly rent while living in London as an international engineering student.

Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps, before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China.

The student first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen's University before heading to London in 2019 to do a master's degree and then a PhD at UCL.

His crimes began to be uncovered in November 2023, when a woman went to police to allege that she had been attacked by Zou.

There was not enough evidence to bring a criminal charge over her claim, but when Zou's phone was seized officers found disturbing videos of him raping unconscious women, and pipettes and sedating drugs in his flat.