Student predator: Surviving Zhenhao Zou

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Earlier this year, Chinese student Zhenhao Zou was jailed for 24 years for drugging and raping ten women in the UK and China. He has been described by police as one of Britain’s “most prolific sexual predators”. After his trial, detectives said they feared he may have attacked 50 more women – many of whom are yet to be identified. Following connections on Chinese social media, reporter Wanqing Zhang from the BBC’s Global China Unit has been speaking exclusively to several of Zou’s victims, and a translator who has helped them, revealing shocking details about his crimes.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I remember it was early March this year. I remember the news just broke out.
0:07.8	At six, detectives say a Chinese student guilty of multiple rapes may turn out to be one of the most
0:14.0	prolific sexual predators ever seen in this country. It was shocking because of the scale of the case.
0:20.8	A course in London heard how Jun Hao-Zou filmed many. this country. It was shocking because of the scale of the case.
0:27.0	A course in London heard how Jun Hao-Zo filmed many of his attacks and kept items belonging to his victims as trophies. And of course, it just immediately swept the entire Chinese
0:32.6	community in the UK. Translated Lily Sun was part of this community. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
0:40.8	It was all over on Chinese social media in Chinese.
0:47.5	All the victims seem to be Chinese women who he drugged and then raped.
0:53.8	And the potential number of the victims, it was really large.
0:58.6	Some of the victims have never been identified with the Metropolitan Police saying there
1:03.1	may be as many as 50 other women.
1:06.8	So more victims were still out there.
1:10.3	More women raped by Chinese student, Zheng Hao-Zo, in the UK and in China.
1:17.4	Lili wanted to help, and there was one detail in the reporting that struck her.
1:22.4	It mentioned that the first victim who reported to the police,
1:27.4	she originally felt discouraged because of the poor translation
1:30.9	between herself and the police officers.
1:34.5	The police later apologized, admitting the translation hadn't been good enough.
1:40.3	Lily knew this was something she could help with.
1:44.1	I became a certified interpreter for law courts and police station,
1:49.4	just one month before the news broke out.
1:52.0	So when reading that news article, I realized this is something I could do,
	...

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