Simon Levy, 40, has been jailed for the rest of his life for the murders of two women and the rape of a third, after a string of failures in the justice system allowed him to remain free.
Levy killed Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in August that year. Both women were suffocated in sexually motivated attacks. Ms Valencia-Trujillo was found in a largely abandoned block of flats on the Aylesbury estate in south-east London, while Ms Wilkins was discovered behind a car park wall near Tottenham High Road, north London.
Before the killings, Levy had already raped a third woman in the same car park where Ms Wilkins' body was later found. The surviving victim had told police where her attacker lived, but she was not formally interviewed until after Levy had killed twice.
Whole life sentence imposed
At the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, sentenced Levy to a whole life prison term, meaning he will never be released. The judge said: “You are clearly someone who ruthlessly exploits others for your own personal sexual satisfaction.” He noted Levy's disturbing internet history and collection of press cuttings about sexual crimes, describing him as “someone who appears to have a morbid fascination with sex, rape, and crime.”
Levy's victims branded him a “monster” and a “parasite” during the sentencing hearing. The surviving rape victim told the court she had become a drug addict and sex worker after being trafficked to the UK. “He took away my soul that night and he took away my dignity,” she said, calling the attack “worse than all the nights of being a victim of trafficking.” She added: “This man is a parasite not worthy of any more of my words or time.”
Family impact statements
Ms Wilkins' sister, Lindsey Hicks, addressed Levy directly, saying: “You, Simon Levy, have destroyed our lives and we will never ever get over this.” Ms Valencia-Trujillo's daughter, Nazly Johana Fuenmayor Valencia, called the murder “horrific” and said: “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.” She paid tribute to her mother as a “beautiful woman both inside and out”, adding: “She came to this country to give her children a better life and for safety, and her life was taken so cruelly.”
Levy, who wore sunglasses throughout the hearing, appeared to be smiling as he entered the dock and spoke only to say “yes” when asked to confirm his name. He showed no emotion as the impact statements were delivered.
Justice system failings
Levy was convicted by a jury of two counts of murder, two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent, and the non-fatal smothering of the rape victim. He had also been convicted earlier this year of 11 sexual assaults on London's public transport network.
Following the verdicts, the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police (BTP) and Crown Prosecution Service admitted failings in how they dealt with Levy, who was on bail as his attacks escalated. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) served a gross misconduct notice on a Met police constable and a misconduct notice on a detective sergeant. Scotland Yard has issued a plea for any more survivors of sex attacks by Levy to come forward.
Levy's offending spanned 2018 to 2025. He was jailed in 2021 for groping two women in 2018. He was arrested by BTP in November 2024 for sexual assaults on the Tube, but delays in organising an identification parade until the following April left him free to carry out the rape and first murder. After Ms Valencia-Trujillo's death, he was released on bail at two magistrates' court hearings in May and June 2025. The Crown Prosecution Service admitted it had not opposed bail at the first hearing, and the prosecutor had not given the court all relevant information at the second. He failed to attend three crown court hearings, yet no arrest warrant was requested. Less than two weeks after a hearing on August 11, he murdered Ms Wilkins.
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.”
