A businessman has been jailed for life for drugging women then subjecting them to sexual attacks which he recorded for his pleasure, as well as committing hundreds of other sexual offences.
The judge said Chao Xu’s offending was “calculated and planned” and he posed a high risk to women.
The 33-year-old was arrested in June and Metropolitan police detectives fear he may have hundreds of further victims, making him one of the worst sex offenders in British criminal history. They have still to examine 6m WhatsApp-style messages in Mandarin, as well as the full data from a series of computers, phones, USB sticks and memory cards.
Police searches of his flat in Greenwich, south London, found a phalanx of cameras hidden around his home, including in air fresheners, and one in a packet of female sanitary products.
He used his mobile phones to film attacks, ranging from rape to upskirting on the large escalator at London Bridge station and around London’s transport network.
He lured women to his home for parties or networking events where he served a cocktail he called Spring of Life, a mix of Chinese herbs and alcohol.
Xu would mix some of his cocktail with a date rape drug such as GHB and scopolamine, and give it to his intended victims, rendering them unable to fight him off.
One victim, a PhD student who was drugged and assaulted over several hours while Xu filmed her, said she felt everything, but could not fight back because of the drugs.
In a statement read to court, she said Xu “stole the person I was” and added: “He has changed me. I feel that I can never go back to who I was.”
She said she still struggled to sleep, fearing she could be attacked again, and suffered from anxiety: “I’m not sure how this is ever mended.”
Two victims said they feared Xu could take revenge and one said: “He has become a shadow in my heart.”
The prosecutor, Catherine Farrelly KC, told the court that one victim told police: “She had no strength to fight him off … she felt like she had lost control of her body, and she could not open her eyes.”
Xu pleaded guilty in August to 24 offences against six women. Those offences were four rapes, eight assaults by penetration, four sexual assaults, two counts of drugging women, four counts of voyeurism, and two counts of upskirting.
At Woolwich crown court on Friday Judge Grout sentenced Xu to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 13 and a half years before he could be considered for parole, and warned that, as a foreign national offender, he was liable for deportation.
Grout said he had concluded Xu “was an incredibly dangerous man”, his offending involving drugs and gaining the confidence of women was “calculated and planned” and that he gained enjoyment from his attacks.
The judge said the Home Office might consider deporting Xu.
Police say three victims have been identified and others have yet to be, and that at least seven women were sexually assaulted by Xu.
After Xu’s guilty plea, more than 10 further voyeurism victims had come forward, with victims of that type of offence numbering in the hundreds, according to police.
Det Supt Lewis Sanderson said Xu edited some of the footage he recorded of his attacks into a compilation for his own sexual gratification, and also watched rape pornography and other material so extreme that further criminal charges were being considered.
Farrelly told the court: “The evidence shows the defendant to be a bold and persistent sexual predator whose offending had steadily become more and more serious.
“He was so emboldened that he was willing to strike anywhere – at his own home address, at his place of work and in train stations, and in respect of anyone: friends, flatmates, colleagues and strangers.
“It appears that no woman was safe around him.
“His offending was mainly planned in a very careful way. He would use hidden cameras to record unsuspecting victims, whether by concealing them in his bathroom at home or by covertly using his mobile telephone to record what he was doing and, even more concerningly, he would use drugs – most likely GHB – to incapacitate some of his victims so he could then abuse them over the course of hours, recording what he was doing as some sort of token.”
The case is similar to that of Zhenhao Zou, who was jailed for attacking 10 women, having drugged and filmed the victims.
Police say there is no known link between Xu and Zou.
DCS Angela Cragg said: “Although both cases are very similar, we have no reason at all to believe they are connected or linked.”
Xu was caught when a woman he drugged and attacked called the police from his flat in June. She had gone there for a networking party, accepted a drink, and then remembered passing in and out of consciousness with Xu on top of her, holding his mobile phone in one hand while repeatedly attacking her.
In the morning she demanded he show her what was on his phone. When he refused she called the police.
When officers arrived Xu gave them his phone and pin code.
Police said if it was not for her brave actions, Xu may still be free and attacking more women.
Police say he targeted young women of Chinese heritage, students past and present from two London universities, Greenwich and King’s College.
According to officers, friends of Xu said he was generous with his money and offered career advice, with two victims saying they had trusted him and viewed him like a brother.
Xu refused to answer police interview questions, answering only to say “no comment” in Mandarin and requiring an interpreter in court. His university PhD in international law was in English.
Xu arrived in the UK in 2013 and studied for a masters at Greenwich University, then stayed to work as a partner in a recruitment business. His first known offending in the UK happened in 2021 and it lasted until 2025; it is believed he also offended in China before.
Sanderson, said: “Chao Xu is among the most dangerous and prolific sexual offenders we have ever encountered. His crimes were calculated, sustained and devastating, spanning years and leaving unimaginable harm in their wake. Without [the victims’] bravery, Xu’s offending could have continued unchecked.
The Met police said anyone who had been a victim or had information should contact them. Reports can be made online in English, Mandarin or Cantonese.
Met detectives can be reached via email on operation.kafka@met.police.uk or on 0207 1753802.
