How one of London’s worst sex offenders hid in plain sight for three years

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 offenses including rape, sexual assault and upskirting.

While working for a recruitment company, he exploited his position to organize 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 offense 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. 

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 offenses and contacts of the predator police need to interview. They have updated the Chinese authorities on the case as the most serious sexual offense 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 offenses 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.’

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