Simon Levy, 40, has been sentenced to a whole life prison term at the Old Bailey for the murders of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, and the rape of a third woman. Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, imposed the sentence on Wednesday, ensuring Levy will never be released.
Levy's brutal attacks on vulnerable women
Levy suffocated both women in sexually motivated attacks. Ms Valencia-Trujillo, a grandmother, was found in a largely abandoned block of flats on the Aylesbury estate in south-east London in March 2025. Ms Wilkins, a mother of four, was discovered behind a car park wall near Tottenham High Road, north London, in August 2025.
Before these murders, Levy had 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. This was part of a catalogue of justice system failings that repeatedly allowed Levy to remain free on bail despite escalating attacks on women.
Systemic failures and missed opportunities
Levy's prolific offending spanned 2018 to 2025. He was jailed in 2021 for groping two women in 2018, one at Notting Hill Carnival and another at a party in Camden. In November 2024, British Transport Police arrested him for sexual assaults on the Tube, but delays in organising an identification parade until April 2025 left him free to commit the rape and first murder.
Following Ms Valencia-Trujillo's death, Levy 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 at the second, the prosecutor failed to provide all relevant information. There were also three crown court hearings he missed, yet no arrest warrant was requested. Less than two weeks after an August 11 hearing, he murdered Ms Wilkins.
Levy was monitored by probation and police as a convicted sex offender but repeatedly lied to officers, claiming he stayed home watching YouTube and films. His attacks on the Tube and Overground continued, with six additional sexual assaults on women interspersed between the murders.
Victims' impact statements and court proceedings
During the sentencing hearing, Levy wore sunglasses and appeared to smile as he entered the dock, speaking only to confirm his name. He showed no emotion as the surviving victim and the murder victims' families delivered their impact statements.
The surviving rape victim called Levy a "monster" and said, "He took away my soul that night and he took away my dignity." She described the attack as "worse than all the nights of being a victim of trafficking" and added, "This man is a parasite not worthy of any more of my words or time."
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."
Official acknowledgments and ongoing investigation
Following the guilty verdicts, the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police, and Crown Prosecution Service admitted failings in their handling of Levy. The Independent Office for Police Conduct has served a gross misconduct notice on a Met police constable and a misconduct notice on a detective sergeant. Scotland Yard has also appealed for any other survivors of Levy's attacks to come forward.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth of 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."
