Simon Levy handed whole-life tariff for double murder and rape

Simon Levy, the sexual predator left free by police and prosecution 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 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later. He was also convicted of attacking and raping another woman, 35, in January 2025, 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 2021 for two sexual assaults.On Wednesday, the recorder of London, Mark Lucraft KC, sentenced Levy, 40, at the Old Bailey, to a life sentence with a whole-life tariff for the two murders. He sentenced Levy to two further life sentences, with minimum terms of 12 years, for the two rapes, to be served alongside the whole-life orders.Levy displayed no emotion as he was led away from the dock flanked by prison guards.Levy watched from the dock wearing dark glasses because of an eye injury. Sentencing him, Lucraft asked Levy to stand before saying: “You violently raped and attacked [the third victim] in January 2025, and in March 2025 murdered Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, in August 2025 murdered Sheryl Wilkins.Sheryl Wilkins (left) was murdered by Simon Levy five months after he killed Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo (right). Photograph: Metropolitan police“You ruthlessly exploited and took advantage of each of these three women. In my judgment the aggravating factors significantly outweigh any mitigating factors.”He said he would impose a whole-life order and Levy did not react. “You will be in prison for life,” he said.Levy was someone who “ruthlessly exploits others for your own personal sexual satisfaction”, the judge added. “You are someone who appears to have a morbid fascination with sex, rape and crime.”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 10 attacks across London. Although charged with most of the offences, Levy remained free and went on to commit his second murder.Screengrab taken from a video of Mark Lucraft KC at the Old Bailey, central London, sentencing Levy. Photograph: PA Video/PAHis offending then escalated. In January, March and August 2025, 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, 53, in a partly disused tower block on 17 March 2025. He murdered Wilkins, 39, in a Tottenham car park on 24 August 2025.Levy was convicted of raping, beating and suffocating a third woman, 35, in January 2025, 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.”Bodycam footage shows arrest of Simon Levy – videoThe woman Levy attacked in January 2025 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 75 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 2024 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.