'Prolific' rapist who drugged women gets life term

A serial rapist who was

one of the most prolific sex criminals of all time

who injected, raped, and illegally filmed his victims was sentenced to life imprisonment for a minimum term of 14 years. Chao Xu, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty to 24 sexual assault, voyeurism, and upskirting of six women between November 2021 and June 2025. Judge Christopher Grout, a sentencing Xu at Woolwich Crown Court, described him as a sexual killer and "an extremely risky man. According to police, the total number of his victims is in the hundreds, and they have appealed for women who were abused by Xu to call them.

'Spring of life'

According to detectives, the 33-year-old, who has lived in the United Kingdom since 2016 and is a graduate of the University of Greenwich, held networking functions at his flat in south-east London, where he spiked spirits and assaulted some of the women attending. They discovered videos on his computers in which he had caught themselves raping women who appeared incapacitated or unconscious. Xu, the head of a recruitment company that helped new Chinese graduates find jobs in London, built cover cameras at his apartment in an air-freshener and in a speaker to capture people showering, using the toilet, and getting changed. He'll provide beverages, including a cocktail he named spring of life that contained a mixture of alcohol and Chinese herbal medicines. He had compilations from his voyeuristic activities, including videos of him raping women who were incapacitated, according to police.

The officers discovered highly troubling stuff on Xu's phone during forensic investigation,

Acting Det Supt Lewis Sanderson said.

The unit contained videos and photographs from a point-of-view viewpoint, depicting Xu raping and sexually assaulting women who appear to be unconscious or incapacitated.

We suspect him to be one of the most prolific sex criminals of all time,the detective said.Prosecutors Catherine Farley KC told the court that the videos revealed sexual assault of at least 11 more unidentified women, as well as some anonymous people,the Xu had caughtwhat he was doing as some sort of token. The court heard that Xu was a

bold and persistent sexual predator whose offending was getting more serious.

I don't think I will ever be the same person again,one survivor told the judge.I'm afraid that I will never be able to remember what that man did to me and how he took the person from me.

I am afraid that I may have given Xu to other women who may have shared the same fate as me. I carry that too.

I felt out of control and lonely. I've been told that the medications he used on me were for animals.

She explained how, despite being drugged, she was still alert and knew what was going on around her.

I couldn't open my eyes and throat,she said.Nor could I move my body. I felt everything that he did, from taking my clothes off and touching me deeply. I was horrified.

I could just see through my eyes every now and then that he had his phone out. I couldn't understand why he was doing this to me.

He was supposed to be a friend.

'Most appalling'

Following a social gathering in Glashier Street, Greenwich, in May, Xu was apprehended. He assaulted a visitor who was later found to have the drug GHB and muscle relaxant scopolamine in her system. After the woman regained consciousness, she remembered portions of the assault, including Xu filming on his cellphone. He was arrested on 1 June by her and another woman, and she and another man were notified him. Xu's four counts of rape, eight counts of sexual assault, four counts on voyeurism, four charges of administering a drug with intent, four allegations of voyage, four claims of knowingly administering an opioid with intention, and two counts of operating equipment under the clothing of another person without consent between February 2022 and June 2025 were listed in Judge Grout ruled that the Chinese national sentencing of the Chinese National: