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To the outside world, Chao Xu was a highly educated professional from a well-heeled family in China enjoying London life.
But in fact he was one of the must prolific sex offenders ever apprehended by the Metropolitan police after seriously sexually assaulting seven women and upskirting hundreds.
The International Law graduate even hid a camera in an air freshener at his home so he could spy on women in his bathroom, and placed cameras at a workplace and at London Bridge underground station.
Today Xu has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years for multiple offences including rape, sexual assault and upskirting.
While working for a recruitment company, he exploited his position to organise networking events at his flat.
There he would ply his victims with a drink he called the ‘spring of life’ – a cocktail of alcohol and Chinese herbs.
He would add a sedative in the glass of his chosen victims so he could render them incapacitated and then film himself sexually assaulting them.
When he was apprehended, his phone was found to have sickening recordings of his attacks as well as upskirting footage of young women, many oh whom have not been identified.
Xu, who had a girlfriend at the time of his offending and no previous criminal record, was arrested in June 2025 after an allegation of a sexual offence was made following a networking event at his south east London flat.
His networking parties were billed as places where Chinese nationals living in London could get together with premise that they could be steered towards job opportunities.
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But in reality, the events were a pretext for Xu to get victims in his flat so he could secretly film them in his bathroom and, in some cases, drug them with sedatives so he could attack them.
During one event, one of his female guests became unwell. He offered her to stay before raping her several times, the police said.
They later discovered he had drugged her with substances known to cause drowsiness and incapacitation.
In August, he pleaded guilty to 24 charges. These include raping the same woman and sexually assaulting six others.
He also pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault and one count of assault by penetration, but the Crown said it would not pursue a trial on those charges.
The Met team, which brought him to justice under an operation code named Kafka, were staggered by the volume and severity of his offending.
They are still trawling through thousands of social media posts to establish if there are other offences and contacts of the predator police need to interview. They have updated the Chinese authorities on the case as the most serious sexual offence were against Chinese citizens.
Police said they do not believe there is any connection between Xu and a second Chinese student Zhenhao Zou, 28, who was jailed for life in June for drugging and raping unconscious women.
But are urging any other potential victims to come forward.
Detective Chief Superintendent Angela Craggs said: ‘He is in the category of the most prolific (sexual) offenders the Met have investigated.’
Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Sanderson said: ‘He concealed cameras … he gave victims his drink he called the Spirit of Life.
‘The hidden cameras were for voyeurism. The sexual offences were recorded on his phone.’
The Met believe there could be other victims yet to have come forward.
DCI Sanderson said after the predator’s conviction: ‘Xu is a calculated, prolific sex offender, who has preyed on unsuspecting women using cowardly methods – administering drugs to rape, sexually assault and take intimate images without consent.
‘Our investigation is ongoing and we continue to examine a large amount of evidence, which will help identify any further potential victims.’
Suzanne Crane, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said during his case at Woolwich Crown Court: ‘Xu had deliberately drugged women to render them unconscious and vulnerable, enabling him to rape and sexually assault them without their knowledge
‘He is a serious danger to women, and without the bravery of victims who came forward, his offending may well have continued undetected.’
What the survivors said in court
In an impact statement read out to the court, one victim said they feared becoming pregnant or getting an STI after being raped by Xu.
Discussing the attack, the woman said: ‘I couldn’t open my eyes or mouth nor could I move my body.
‘I felt everything that he did: pulling my dress off, pulling my tights and underwear off and touching me intimately. I was horrified.
‘I could just see through my eyes every now and then that he had his phone out and just knew he was taking photos and possibly videos of me.
‘I’m terrified the videos he took of me that evening could have been sent on the internet.’
Another victim said they were still afraid of Xu, adding: ‘He has become a shadow in my heart’.
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’.
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.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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