Simon Levy, the sexual predator left free by police errors to murder two women, will never leave prison after being sentenced to a whole-life tariff.
Levy was convicted on Friday of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March ۲۰۲۵ and Sheryl Wilkins five months later. He was also convicted of attacking and raping another woman, ۳۵, in January ۲۰۲۵, who survived and gave damning testimony against him.
Levy, from Tottenham in north London, was on bail as a suspect for the first murder when he committed the second, after police said they lacked sufficient evidence to charge him.
Before the killings he already had an extensive history of sexual offending and was on the sex offender register having been jailed in ۲۰۲۱ for two sexual assaults.
On Wednesday, the recorder of London, Mark Lucraft KC, sentenced Levy, ۴۰, at the Old Bailey, watched by the families of his victims.
Levy watched from the dock wearing dark glasses because of an eye injury.
Months before the first killing, British Transport Police arrested Levy for sexual assaults of women on trains but made errors that delayed charging him and left him free.
While on bail, he carried out a further ۱۰ attacks across London. Although charged with most of the offences, Levy remained free and went on to commit his second murder.
His offending then escalated. In January, March and August ۲۰۲۵, Levy attacked three women who were either sex workers or sometimes performed sexual acts in return for money or drugs, the jury was told. He killed two and left one seriously injured.
He murdered Valencia-Trujillo, ۵۳, in a partly disused tower block on ۱۷ March ۲۰۲۵. He murdered Wilkins, ۳۹, in a Tottenham car park on ۲۴ August ۲۰۲۵.
Levy was convicted of raping, beating and suffocating a third woman, ۳۵, in January ۲۰۲۵, who survived and has anonymity. She was attacked in the same Tottenham car park, eight minutes’ walk from the home Levy shared with his mother and sister.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC said Levy’s offending was so severe it deserved a whole-life tariff, meaning he would never be released from prison. One aggravating feature, Little told the court, was that sexual violence was “inextricably interwoven with the killing” of both victims.
Wilkins’ mother, Mary, said in her victim impact statement that Levy should never be released: “I hope you never walk the streets again as you are a threat to all women.”
Wilkins’ sister, Lindsey Hicks, said: “You, Simon Levy, have destroyed our lives. Sheryl was a beautiful soul … The pain you have put her through is unbearable.”
The woman Levy attacked in January ۲۰۲۵ told the court she was a “mum and a classical pianist”. The woman, who is from eastern Europe, said she had been trafficked into the UK and used drugs to deal with the pain. She said Levy’s attack on her took away her “soul and dignity” and called him a “monster” and a “parasite”.
Nazly Johana Fuenmayor Valencia, daughter of Carmenza, said her mother, who the court heard had used drugs, had many responsibilities she dealt with every day and was the “pillar” of her family.
Official figures showed that before Levy’s sentencing there were ۷۵ prisoners in England and Wales serving a whole-life tariff.
The Crown Prosecution Service, the Metropolitan police and British Transport Police have admitted making errors.
Prosecutors admitted bungling efforts to have Levy remanded in custody after the first murder and after he was charged with the train attacks. They failed to provide three court hearings with key information demonstrating the full extent of the danger he posed to women.
Two Met officers are under investigation by the police watchdog over alleged failings. Levy’s risk assessment was downgraded by the Met in August ۲۰۲۴ from high to medium. Despite the series of train attacks, and his arrest for murder, it was not upgraded.
At a trial earlier this year Levy was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for the train attacks, as well as a sexual assault on a prison officer when he was first imprisoned.
