Simon Levy, 40, has been found guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in sexually motivated attacks, as well as two counts of rape. The conviction at the Old Bailey on Friday follows a series of police and court blunders that left him free to kill.
Failures across the system
Levy, of Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, north London, suffocated both women in attacks that occurred five months apart in 2025. 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.
He was also found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent and the non-fatal smothering of a third woman, whose collarbone was broken during a brutal sex assault in January 2025 in the same car park where Ms Wilkins was later found dead.
The Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police (BTP) and Crown Prosecution Service have all admitted failings in how they dealt with Levy, who was on bail as his attacks escalated. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth 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."
Missed opportunities
Levy was previously jailed in 2021 for groping two women in 2018. He sexually assaulted a prison guard in 2022 but was released the following year, going on to assault a woman on the Tube in October 2023 and allegedly rape another in May 2024, for which he was recalled and released again.
He was arrested by BTP in November 2024 for four 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. BTP officers also failed to realise his Oyster card had been stolen, giving him free travel.
Following Ms Valencia-Trujillo's death, Levy was released on bail at two magistrates' court hearings in May and June 2025. The CPS 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.
Justice delayed
Levy was being monitored by the probation service and police but repeatedly lied to officers, claiming he did not go out and watched YouTube instead. He played on his partial sight, lost in an attack in May 2024, saying it made him unsteady.
Two Metropolitan Police officers are under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Levy had previously been convicted of 11 counts of indecent assault for groping ten women on London's transport network, receiving a six-year jail term plus a three-year licence period.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC adjourned sentencing until Wednesday August 12 and remanded Levy into custody. Prosecutor Tom Little KC called Levy "a predatory serial sexual attacker". Victims' families burst into tears as the verdict was delivered after 13 hours of deliberation.
