Simon Levy guilty of double murder after serial sex attacks

Key Points

• The 40-year-old Simon Levy of Tottenham, north London, was found guilty on Friday, 7 August 2026, at the Old Bailey of murdering two prostitutes – Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, aged 53, in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins, aged 39, in August 2025.
• Levy was also found guilty of rape and violent assault of a third woman in January 2025, when he was accused of being guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent and strangulation.
• Levy was arrested in connection with the murder of Valencia-Trujillo in April 2025, but he was later freed by the police; he then raped five other women on London’s transport system before killing Wilkins.
• The Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) for its failure to treat Levy as a high-risk and not medium-risk sex offender in 2024.
• Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth of the Met believes that Wilkins would still be alive today and apologised to her family.
• The CPS stated that “relevant information about bail” was not supplied to the court; the prosecutor, Lisa Ramsarran, commented that their behaviour did “not meet the required standard.”
• The Assistant Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, Charlie Doyle, admitted that their first response to the situation was too slow and stated that the procedure has changed to make sure that associated crimes and repeat offenders receive priority.
• In February 2026, Levy was charged with sexual assault of 10 women on London trains during October 2023 to May 2025; six assaults happened in early 2025.
• Britain’s Minister of Crime and Policing, Sarah Jones, appreciated the investigation by the IOPC, saying that the case “raises serious questions that need urgent answers.”

London (Britain Today News) August 07, 2026 – Simon Levy, 40, of Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, guilty of murdering two women and raping a third in a string of attacks that has prompted admissions of failings from the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Levy was convicted of the murder of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in March 2025 and of Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in August 2025, as well as counts of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and intentional strangulation against a third woman attacked in January 2025. He had previously been found guilty in February 2026 of sexually assaulting 10 women on London trains between October 2023 and May 2025, and of a separate assault on a prison officer in April 2022.

What crimes was Simon Levy convicted of at the Old Bailey?

Levy faced a five-week trial at the Old Bailey, culminating in convictions on two counts of murder, two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and non-fatal suffocation relating to the January 2025 attack on the surviving victim. As reported by Sky News, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the jury Levy carried out a “series of attacks on vulnerable women”, adding that he “killed two women and left the third for dead”. All three murdered and assaulted women were sex workers, the court heard.

In addition, Levy was convicted in February 2026, after a separate trial, of 10 counts of sexual assault on London trains between October 2023 and May 2025, with six of those attacks occurring in early 2025. He was also found guilty of an 11th charge of sexually assaulting a prison officer in April 2022, after he had been jailed over a 2018 sexual assault.

How did police errors allow Levy to continue attacking?

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth from London’s Metropolitan Police told the BBC he thought Wilkins’ life could have been saved and that he had apologised to her family. He also said the Met had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) having downgraded Levy in 2024 from a high-risk sex offender to a medium-risk one.

The Met said in a statement that a post-mortem could not provide a definitive cause of death for Valencia-Trujillo, meaning they could not confirm any third-party involvement and, as a result, released Levy. Levy was arrested on other occasions in 2024 and early 2025 by British Transport Police (BTP) for sex attacks on trains, including after he became a suspect for rape and Valencia-Trujillo’s murder, but was granted bail.

Why did the Met refer itself to the IOPC?

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Friday that an investigation into alleged failures of Met Police officers in their management of Levy was “ongoing”. The watchdog added that its investigation began in January following a voluntary conduct referral from the force, relating to alleged failures by two officers following Levy’s prison release on licence in February 2023.

An IOPC spokesperson said:

“We are examining whether action could or should have been taken to prevent his reoffending, and if all officers involved in his management followed policies, procedures and training.”

At this stage, the IOPC has served a gross misconduct notice on a police constable and a misconduct notice on a detective sergeant, meaning the actions of those officers are under investigation.

What did the Crown Prosecution Service admit about bail?

Lisa Ramsarran from the Crown Prosecution Service said that “relevant information regarding bail” was not provided to the court, adding:

“Our actions fell short of the standards that victims, families and the public are entitled to expect.”

As reported by the Evening Standard, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth, from the Met, said failures to remand Levy in custody at hearings at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court in May and June 2025 had left him free to kill a second time.

How did British Transport Police respond to the case?

Assistant Chief Constable Charlie Doyle from the BTP also accepted the force’s initial investigation was not carried out quickly enough. He said the BTP had amended its procedures “to ensure that repeat offenders are dealt with expeditiously and that linked offences are prioritised more effectively”. Levy was arrested on other occasions in 2024 and early 2025 by British Transport Police (BTP) for sex attacks on trains, including after he became a suspect for rape and Valencia-Trujillo’s murder, but was granted bail.

Who were the victims in the Simon Levy case?

Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, was murdered in March 2025 in south-east London, while Sheryl Wilkins, 39, was killed in August 2025 in Tottenham, north London. A third woman survived a brutal attack in January 2025 in the same car park where Wilkins was later found dead, suffering a broken collarbone during the assault. All three were sex workers, the court heard.
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What did crime minister Sarah Jones say about the case?

Britain’s crime and policing minister Sarah Jones welcomed the IOPC investigation into Levy’s case.

“The fact that Levy was able to inflict such devastating harm after being freed by police and the courts is deeply concerning,”

Jones said in a statement.

“It raises serious questions that require urgent answers.”

What sentences can Levy expect after conviction?

Simon Levy, 40, of Beaufoy Road in Tottenham, was found guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins in 2025, as well as two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm and intentional strangulation of another woman that same year. The verdict was delivered at the Old Bailey on Friday, 7 August after a five-week trial. He will be sentenced at the same court on Wednesday, 12 August.

What broader questions does the Levy case raise for policing?

As reported by the Guardian, experts say the attackers’ behaviour, and the handling of their cases, have striking similarities to previous high-profile cases involving violence against women. The Guardian’s coverage asked whether anything had changed in policing since the killing of Sarah Everard, noting that Levy’s double murder trial, which ended in convictions on Friday, heard from the survivor.

What is the current status of the IOPC investigation?

The IOPC said it is

“investigating the management of Simon Levy from his first conviction in September 2021 up to his arrest in September 2025”.

The serving of conduct notices does not necessarily mean disciplinary proceedings will follow, the watchdog said. The Met Police, British Transport Police, and CPS have all admitted failings in how they dealt with Simon Levy.