Xuanyu Zhong, a 25-year-old Northumbria University student is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a girl in 2011. He committed the felony after watching rape videos on the internet.

Zhong, whose dad is a government official in China, was infatuated with date rape pornography and spent months researching how to fulfill his fantasies in real life. He then purchased some date rape drugs online, devised a plan and carried out the attack. Secretly, Zhong mixed the drug in his victim's drink and forced himself on her while she lay helpless.

Newcastle Crown Court said that Zhong intended to copy the videos by raping his drugged victim but, 'for some reason', changed his mind at the last minute and instead sexually assaulted her. He was ultimately caught when the victim recollected some parts of the assault and reported it to the police.

The victim also had to go through another painful ordeal when Zhong's dad and friends tracked and pressurized her not to give evidence through a series of threatening texts and phone calls.

Zhong from China was living in Newcastle at the time. At first, he did not admit to the offence, saying that it was a consensual act. At a later sentencing hearing, Zhong finally accepted the crime in a letter to the judge. He was sentenced to six-year jail term.

"This was a premeditated offence. You offered get your victim a drink and, when she accepted, you laced that drink with the drugs you obtained. Her recollection of events thereafter is very limited," said Judge Paul Sloan QC. "I'm satisfied that for some time prior to these offences, you had fantasised about drugging a female and then sexually assaulting your victim by having intercourse with her while she was incapacitated."

During the investigation, the detectives examined the student's computer and discovered that for several months he viewed online articles that detailed the effects of different date-rape drugs.

He also watched eight pornographic videos a month before the attack that showed how women were drugged and raped while incapacitated. Detectives are unsure which date-rape drug was used by Zhong.

"His letter isn't a complete acceptance but it is a substantial acceptance. It expresses remorse and explains the factors which made it difficult for him to put in a guilty plea at an earlier stage," Paul Cross, defending, said.