Two women have told Scotland Yard they were drugged and raped by a London PhD student within 24 hours of each other, according to reports.
Prolific sex offender Zhenhao Zou, 28, preyed on victims using social media before luring them to his luxury home with the offer of extra study sessions.
After lacing their drinks with drugs, he abused them in London and China.
BBC News spoke to a new female witness known as Rachel (not her real name) who says she was raped and feels guilty for not reporting it sooner because he went on to carry out a second attack.
Metropolitan Police detectives investigating Chinese Zou’s offences initially questioned whether the two women might be the same person, because the two attacks sounded identical and happened in such a short space of time.
A source familiar with the investigation told BBC World Service: “He was getting away with it, so he wanted to do it more and more.”
Rachel said she met Zou for drinks in late October 2022 when he drove her to his waterside villa in Zhupingsha village, near the Chinese city of Dongguan.
He gave her a whisky cocktail that left her so dizzy she could barely move. After laying down upstairs to recover, Rachel states he raped her.
She said she didn’t report it to police in China because she feared not having sufficient evidence and had been worried about people finding out.
The second victim, known as Female D, was attacked on the same day in October 2022. Her identity had not been known to UK police at the time of Zou’s March 2025 trial.
However, he was convicted of raping her using video evidence from his devices.
The BBC claims Female D contacted Scotland Yard shortly after Inner London Crown Court case ended.
Rachel also decided to report her experiences to the Met with the help of an independent translator via an anonymous statement over email.
Responding to it, a police officer sought more information on Rachel’s identity, saying it “seemed we may have already had contact with this person” and that the account sounded “very much identical to one we already have from this time period”.
Rachel clarified that she had never spoken to Chinese or British police.
Zou, described as one of the UK’s most prolific predators, was sentenced for life with a minimum term of 24 years.
He kept a trophy box of women’s belongings and filmed nine of the rapes on women as they lost consciousness.
The Yard fear he could have targeted dozens more.
Detective Chief Inspector Tariq Farooqi said: “Our thoughts continue to be with the victims and survivors who were impacted by Zou’s heinous crimes and we hope they are somewhat comforted that he will spend the next 24 years in prison.
“The scale of his offending – which spanned two continents – makes him one of the most dangerous sexual offenders the Met has ever brought to justice.
“Our investigation into Zou continues and since our appeal more than 20 women have come forward. We continue to liaise with the Crown Prosecution Service around potential further charges and reiterate our appeal– if you wish to make a report relating to Zou, you can contact police via email on survivors@met.police.uk.”
Detective Inspector Richard Mackenzie told reporters of Zou: “The sheer scale of his offending, which spanned two countries, makes him one of the most prolific predators we have ever seen.”
Judge Rosina Cottage said Zou has a “sexual interest” in “asserting power and control over women”, adding that the victims were “pieces in an elaborate game” for the defendant, who has “no understanding of the meaning of consent”.
Prosecutors added 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 in the Guangdong Province, affording a Rolex, a wardrobe of designer clothes, cosmetic procedures such as a hair transplant and facial surgery.
Zou first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen’s University before heading to London two years later to do a master’s degree and then a PhD at University College London.
His victims were attacked in London and China between 2019 and 2023. He was living in student accommodation in Bloomsbury and at a £4,000-a-month rented apartment in Elephant and Castle, and made regular trips back to his native country.
When Zou was arrested, police found an array of drugs - MDMA, chemsex favourite GHB, Ketamine, and Xanax – at his luxury London flat.
It is believed he used some of the drugs to knock out his victims, and he had spy cameras set up in his bedroom.
