Queen’s University has been “liaising with the Metropolitan Police” after a former student was convicted of drugging and raping ten women.
Zhenhao Zou was a student at Queen’s University Belfast from 2017-2019. Yesterday the 28-year-old was convicted of the harrowing attacks involving two women who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced.
He filmed nine of the attacks as “souvenirs”, and kept a trophy box of women’s belongings, jurors in his trial at Inner London Crown Court were told. Judge Rosina Cottage said he is a “dangerous and predatory sexual offender” and warned him he faces a “very long” jail term when he is sentenced on June 19.
Read more: Former Queen's University student found guilty of drugging and raping 10 women
But the Metropolitan Police fear he may have have targeted more than 50 more potential victims. On Wednesday the Met told Belfast Live: “We do not currently have any evidence of offending in Belfast, but we are keeping an open mind about this as we’re mindful that there could be potential victim-survivors outside GB and China.”
On Thursday, Queen’s said that Zou “graduated as a BEng in Mechanical Engineering in July 2019”.
They added: “We are aware of his recent trial in London and have been liaising with the Metropolitan Police in relation to it. At this time there is nothing to suggest that any offences relate to his time at Queen’s University Belfast. We will continue to liaise with all appropriate authorities should that position change.”
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.
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.
Investigators first charged Zou in January 2024, but waited for more than a year until he had been convicted before making public appeals for further victims to come forward.
English (United States) ·