Serial sex attacker Simon Levy, 40, has been sentenced to a whole life order at the Old Bailey for the murders of grandmother Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and mother-of-four Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in sexually motivated attacks. He was also convicted of raping a third woman who survived.
Levy suffocated both women during attacks in 2025. Ms Valencia-Trujillo was found in a largely abandoned block of flats on the Aylesbury estate in south-east London in March, and Ms Wilkins was discovered behind a car park wall near Tottenham High Road, north London, in August.
Before the murders, Levy had raped a third woman in the same car park where Ms Wilkins' body was later found. The survivor had given police Levy's address, but she was not formally questioned until after Levy had killed twice, amid a series of criminal justice failures that saw him repeatedly granted bail despite an escalating record of violence against women.
Judge imposes whole life order
Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, imposed the whole life order on Wednesday, meaning Levy will never be released. The judge told him: "You are clearly someone who ruthlessly exploits others for your own personal sexual satisfaction." He described Levy's online activity and collection of press cuttings about sexual offences, saying Levy is "someone who appears to have a morbid fascination with sex, rape, and crime".
Levy's victims called him a "monster" and a "parasite" during sentencing. The rape survivor told the court: "He took away my soul that night and he took away my dignity," adding that the assault was "worse than all the nights of being a victim of trafficking". She said: "This man is a parasite not worthy of any more of my words or time."
Ms Wilkins' sister Lindsey Hicks told Levy directly: "You, Simon Levy, have destroyed our lives and we will never ever get over this." Ms Valencia-Trujillo's daughter, Nazly Johana Fuenmayor Valencia, described the killing as "horrific", saying: "There's an emptiness that can't be filled. Our world has been ripped apart, she was taken from our family and we will never be the same again."
Justice system failures
Following the guilty verdicts, the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police (BTP) and Crown Prosecution Service acknowledged failures in their handling of Levy, who remained on bail while his attacks escalated. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed it had issued a gross misconduct notice to a Met police constable and a misconduct notice to a detective sergeant. Scotland Yard has also appealed for any further survivors of sexual assaults by Levy to contact police.
Levy's offending spanned from 2018 to 2025. He was imprisoned in 2021 for sexually assaulting two women in 2018, including at Notting Hill Carnival and a Camden party. BTP arrested Levy in November 2024 after sexual assaults on the Underground, but delays in arranging an identification parade until April meant he remained free to commit the rape and first murder.
After Ms Valencia-Trujillo's death, Levy was granted bail at two magistrates' court appearances in May and June 2025. The Crown Prosecution Service admitted it failed to contest bail at the first hearing, and the prosecutor did not present all relevant information at the second. Three further crown court hearings took place which he did not attend, yet no warrant was sought. Fewer than two weeks after a hearing on August 11, he killed Ms Wilkins.
Pattern of violent offending
The murders occurred across eight months in 2025, punctuated by sexual assaults on six women across the Tube and Overground networks. As a convicted sex offender, Levy was under probation and police supervision but consistently deceived officers during visits to his home, claiming he stayed indoors watching YouTube and films.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth from the Met Police said: "There's a collective system failure here, which has left Levy free to go on offending in this awful manner and left these victims at risk from his prolific offending, and that's something which ourselves and colleagues across the criminal justice system will need to reflect on."
