Simon Levy, 40, was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday, August 7, of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sherly Wilkins in August that year. The verdicts followed revelations that police and prosecution errors allowed a prolific sex offender to remain free.
Errors before the murders
Months before the first killing, Levy was arrested for sexual assaults on women on trains. Officers made errors that delayed his charging, according to The Guardian. He was known to police and had been jailed for a sexual offence in 2021, during which he assaulted a female prison officer.
After his release, Levy carried out a series of sexual assaults on trains across London between 2023 and 2025, and was the prime suspect in a rape investigation. Despite being charged with most offences, he remained free on bail and committed further attacks.
Failures in court
Police admitted they bungled efforts to have Levy remanded. Three court hearings were held where prosecutors could not provide crucial information showing the danger he posed. The Crown Prosecution Service also acted too slowly, the BBC reports.
Levy was also convicted of two counts of rape, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm with intent, and non-fatal suffocation over a brutal sex attack in January 2025, which the victim survived. Prosecutor Tom Little KC described the crimes as a series of attacks by a “predatory serial sexual attacker in a similar way”.
The victims
Miss Valencia-Trujillo was found dead in a largely abandoned block of flats on the Aylesbury Estate in south east London in March 2025. Miss Wilkins was discovered behind a car park wall in Tottenham, north London in August. The car park was also the scene of the January rape, which left the unnamed victim unconscious with a broken collarbone.
