Met Police releases footage showing moment UCL student rapist realises he’s been caught

The Metropolitan Police has shared interview footage showing the moment former UCL student and rapist, Zhenhao Zou, realises he’s been caught.

In the footage, taken from an interview on 30th January 2024, detectives reveal to Zou that they’ve begun watching videos from his electronic devices, and have so far uncovered eight rapes.

Zhenhao Zou, 28, is a Chinese national, who was studying a PhD in mechanical engineering at UCL. He was convicted yesterday (5th March) of 35 offences, including 11 counts of rape against 10 individuals. Nine of these assaults were recorded.

However, officers believe the victim count could be higher than 60.

In the interview from January last year, Zou can be seen sitting across from detectives, and has to use a translator for the duration of the footage.

@thelondontab This is the moment Zhenhao Zou, a former UCL student and no-convicted r**ist, realised the Met Police had obtained at least eight videos of him r***ing women. #ucl #fyp #crime #metpolice ♬ original sound – The London Tab

The detective interviewing tells Zou that he has only viewed “a fraction” of the footage found at the 28-year-old’s apartment, saying: “We already have eight different videos of you raping at least eight different victims. This includes the two from your phone that we discussed with you upon your last arrest.

“As they’ve said some of the things seized include two hard drives of over two terabytes each.”

Whilst the translator explains what the detective has said, Zou shows no emotion.

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The detective then goes on to ask Zou how many videos he has, how many victims there are, and how long it had been going on for. The former student answered “no comment” to all three questions.

This is when the detective explained the police had traced the videos to that address, and that the assaults could have been going on since 2019. To this, he once again responded: “No comment.”

Zou is then asked whether the rapes started when he arrived in the UK, or if they started before that. The detective then further asked when the first rape happened and if Zou was unable to stop once he’d started assaulting women. The now-convicted rapist answered no comment to all four questions.

As the footage approaches its conclusion, the unnamed detective asked: “Would you say that you were addicted to drugging, raping and videoing these women?”

He then continues by saying: “This is your interview, this is your opportunity. Is there anything you want to tell us about these videos we’ve found?”

The interview is then concluded by Zou responding “no comment” a final time.

However, despite what’s shown in this interview, in a further interview with police, Zou admitted that he enjoyed “rape role play” and liked pornography that showed women appearing to be sleeping.

Furthermore, officers found secret cameras and SD cards at Zou’s £4,000 per month residence in Bloomsbury, central London.

In total, they watched 1,277 videos, with a some of these showing Zou raping the unconscious women.

Officers also found drugs at his home, including Butanediol, which was used to incapacitate his victims.

Further footage was released by the police showing the moment Zou was arrested. In it, officers can be seen entering his property, where they now know a number of the rapes took place.

The Met Police is still appealing for victims to come forward, and has put out a statement saying they can contact the Met Police itself or Rape Crisis.

The appeal says: “If you wish to speak to Met detectives or make a report relating to Zou, you can also contact police via email on [email protected].

“You can also make a report to police by calling 101 from within the UK, quoting reference 2904/04FEB25.

“If you live in England or Wales and have been affected by this case and would like to seek support from specialist agencies, please contact the independent charity Rape Crisis via their 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line or call them on 0808 500 2222. Specially trained staff are there to listen, answer questions and offer emotional support.”

Featured image via Met Police