Two women who reported being drugged and raped by prolific sex offender Zhenhao Zou said they were attacked within 24 hours of each other, the BBC has established. The first woman who says she was raped told us she was shocked to learn about the second attack and had since felt guilt for not reporting her rape sooner. Metropolitan Police detectives investigating 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. This timing showed Zou was confident, a source familiar with the investigation told the BBC World Service. He was getting away with it, so he wanted to do it more and more, they said.
**Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence**
Zou was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 24 years, in June. The Chinese national was convicted for drugging and raping 10 women - three in the UK and seven in China - between September 2019 and May 2023. All victims appear to have been Chinese.
But after his trial, detectives - having described Zou as one of the UK's most prolific predators - said they feared he may have attacked 50 more women. Since Zou's trial, 24 women have come forward in both the UK and China, including the victims of these two attacks.
The first woman, whom we are calling Rachel, says she met Zou for drinks in late October 2022. He drove her to his waterside villa in Zhupingsha village, near the Chinese city of Dongguan, where he gave her a whisky cocktail that left her so dizzy that she says she could barely move. After she lay down upstairs to recover, she says he raped her. Phone records and messages reveal Rachel had tried to call a friend for help afterwards, but Zou had grabbed her phone from her and spoke to the friend himself, preventing her from seeking help. Zou did not return Rachel's phone until the following afternoon. In a series of frantic messages on the Chinese app WeChat, Rachel told her friend she was still in Zou's house and asked why she hadn't been able to come and get her.
Her friend explained that she had heard Rachel crying out for help on the phone, but that Zou wouldn't reveal his address. My friend was afraid that if she kept asking, he'd go to extremes and hurt me, Rachel said.
Rachel later feared she did not have sufficient evidence and was worried about people finding out, which is why she initially chose not to report. The police later discovered Zou had been keeping records of his crimes, including potentially incriminating video evidence.
**Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence**
Zou was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 24 years, in June. The Chinese national was convicted for drugging and raping 10 women - three in the UK and seven in China - between September 2019 and May 2023. All victims appear to have been Chinese.
But after his trial, detectives - having described Zou as one of the UK's most prolific predators - said they feared he may have attacked 50 more women. Since Zou's trial, 24 women have come forward in both the UK and China, including the victims of these two attacks.
The first woman, whom we are calling Rachel, says she met Zou for drinks in late October 2022. He drove her to his waterside villa in Zhupingsha village, near the Chinese city of Dongguan, where he gave her a whisky cocktail that left her so dizzy that she says she could barely move. After she lay down upstairs to recover, she says he raped her. Phone records and messages reveal Rachel had tried to call a friend for help afterwards, but Zou had grabbed her phone from her and spoke to the friend himself, preventing her from seeking help. Zou did not return Rachel's phone until the following afternoon. In a series of frantic messages on the Chinese app WeChat, Rachel told her friend she was still in Zou's house and asked why she hadn't been able to come and get her.
Her friend explained that she had heard Rachel crying out for help on the phone, but that Zou wouldn't reveal his address. My friend was afraid that if she kept asking, he'd go to extremes and hurt me, Rachel said.
Rachel later feared she did not have sufficient evidence and was worried about people finding out, which is why she initially chose not to report. The police later discovered Zou had been keeping records of his crimes, including potentially incriminating video evidence.
