‘Calculated’ predator who spiked and raped students jailed as police fear there could be hundreds more victims
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsA serial rapist suspected of being one of the UK’s worst sex offenders has been jailed for life with a minimum of 14 years, after spiking and recording his victims as he abused them. Chao Xu, 33, had placed hidden cameras inside household objects such as an air freshener and a packet of sanitary pads to spy on women visiting his home address in Greenwich, and had also filmed women at his workplace and participated in “upskirting” at London Bridge underground station. The Metropolitan Police believe that the Chinese national may have “hundreds more” victims, and have urged women who may have had contact with Xu to come forward. Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC told the court: “The evidence gathered by the police shows the defendant to be a bold and persistent sexual predator whose offending has steadily become more and more serious. The evidence revealed he was so emboldened he was willing to strike anywhere. At his own home address, at his place of work and in train stations and also willing to strike in respect of anyone.”open image in galleryThe 33-year-old was arrested in June after a woman reported him to the police (Metropolitan Police)She added: “Some of his offending even occurred when there were other arounds. It appears that there was no woman safe around him.”His Honour Judge Christopher Grout said Xu was an “incredibly dangerous man” who “took great enjoyment” from his offending.The judge told Xu: “Your behaviour was calculated and planned, evidenced by the covert recording systems you had set up in your flats and the fact you had incapacitated a number of your victims by drugging them.“You betrayed the trust of a number of women who you befriended in the most appalling ways imaginable.”Judge Grout added that any possible deportation to China was a “matter for the Home Office”.His crimes have strong similarities to that of Zhenhao Zou, a Chinese PhD student who drugged many of his victims and raped 10 women, and who was jailed in June to a life sentence with a minimum of 24 years. However, police have said that they have “no reason to believe at all” that their crimes are connected, or that the offenders knew one another. Xu was arrested on 1 June this year after a victim contacted the police from his address to report that she suspected she had been spiked during a networking event which had taken place at his flat on Glaisher Street. As a director of a recruitment company, Xu had targeted young Chinese students from university and would regularly host events, which were used as a guise to carry out his "calculated" crimes. open image in galleryA cocktail drink named 'The Spirit of Life' that Xu would regularly make for his guests and use to spike victims (Met Police)Upon being confronted by the woman, who recalled being sexually assaulted and filmed, Xu informed her he would only show his phone “to the police”. Officers were at the address within minutes, with a forensic digital download recovering “deeply disturbing material” of himself raping and sexually abusing women who appeared unconscious or heavily intoxicated. He was charged on 3 June and pleaded guilty to 24 sexual offences against at least 12 victims over the course of three years at a plea and trial preparation hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in August. Detectives have been able to identify three of his victims, while four others who were subjected to serious sexual assaults remain unidentified. All are believed to be of Chinese heritage. In impact statements read aloud to the court, his victims described suffering with nightmares and anxiety, and said that they had struggled with their workplace or with their studies. His initial victim said: “How can one man have put me in this predicament? I feel miserable most of the time now and feel hopeless. I was not like this before he assaulted me. He has changed me. I feel I can never go back to who I was.”open image in galleryAn image of Xu placing a hidden camera inside his bathroom (Met Police)Xu, who came to the UK in 2016 to study International Law at Greenwich University, would regularly give his guests a drink that was named ‘The Spring of Life’, which contained different alcoholic substances and Chinese herbal medicines. Police believe that he would then add stupefying drugs to the drink of his intended victim, before offering a place to stay after they became unwell and sexually assaulting them. The initial victim who contacted the police described being “in and out of consciousness” and being “powerless” to prevent the assault. Videos taken on Xu’s phone showed that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted over a period of more than four hours, and she told police she felt “out of control of her body”. Forensic analysis found that the victim had been administered GHB, a commonly-known ‘rape date drug’, and Scopolamine, a prescribed drug that can cause amnesia and severe tiredness. In her impact statement, she said: “I haven’t been able to share any of this experience with my family and fear who I can share it with in the future. I know very often the victim of sexual assault is questioned and blamed rather than the perpetrator in my home country. I question if I am to blame for this and if I could have done anything to prevent it. How do I deal with this?.” open image in galleryA camera was found hidden inside an air freshener at his flat in Greenwich (Met Police)A search warrant at his flat found “multiple covert hidden cameras throughout the property, a range of suspicious liquid substances and numerous digital storage devices”. This led to the discovery of further crimes against women, which included hundreds of images taken on the London Underground of Xu ‘upskirting’ unsuspecting women, the practice of taking an image under clothing without a person’s consent. While little is known about Xu’s background in China, police said that he was “relatively wealthy” and was described as “very generous” by those who knew him. He had a girlfriend at the time of offending, who has co-operated with the police, and Xu had no previous convictions and was not known to the police. The lead investigator, Det Ch Insp Lewis Sanderson, said: “This case has revealed a deeply disturbing pattern of behaviour that spans several years. Xu operated in environments that were meant to be safe. “University circles, professional networks and public spaces. He used trust, familiarity and social gatherings to pursue his actions and target vulnerable individuals. We know from the evidence recovered that many women were filmed without their knowledge and consent.”Suzanne Crane, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Chao Xu deliberately drugged women to render them unconscious and vulnerable, enabling him to rape and sexually assault them without their knowledge.“Xu is a serious danger to women and the scale of his offending is such that without the brave testimony of victims, who came forward after realising what had happened to them, he may well have continued undetected.”Police said anyone wishing to make a report relating to Xu can contact them via email on operation.kafka@met.police.uk or by phoning 02071753802.People can also make a report to police by calling 101 from within the UK, quoting reference 01/7563135/25.
