Crime07 August, 20263 min read
Simon Levy Convicted Of Murdering Two Women In London After Police And Court Failures
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Levy murdered two women, Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins, five months apart in 2025. He raped a third woman while on bail; his crime spree spanned 2018–2025.
Levy convicted at Old Bailey
A jury at the Old Bailey found Simon Levy, 40, guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, five months later, after a trial that followed a series of police, prosecutor, and court failures. The BBC reported that the Metropolitan Police accepted the life of Wilkins could have been saved, and that Levy attacked the three women while on bail for sex assaults on trains in London. The Irish News said Levy was found guilty of murdering Valencia-Trujillo and Wilkins and raping a third woman, with the jury deliberating for 13 hours before delivering the verdict.
Outside the Old Bailey, Detective Chief Inspector Neil John said: "Simon Levy is a dangerous and predatory offender." The Irish News added that Judge Mark Lucraft KC adjourned sentencing until Wednesday August 12 and remanded Levy into custody.
System failures and watchdog
The BBC described a "collective system failure" and said it was a "tragedy beyond words", quoting Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth from the Met. The Independent reported that the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police (BTP), and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) faced serious questions over how Levy was allowed to grope, rape and murder women between February 2023 and August 2025. The Independent also quoted BTP Detective Chief Superintendent Pete Fulton apologising for delays, saying: "The officer who was involved in one of the earlier arrests didn’t set up the ID parade in a timely manner."
The Herts Advertiser said the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into alleged failures by Met Police officers was "ongoing" and that the watchdog served a gross misconduct notice on a police constable and a misconduct notice on a detective sergeant. The BBC further reported that the CPS had apologised for "shortcomings" in its attempts to have Levy remanded in custody, while BTP’s investigation was beset by delays that meant he was not charged for more than six months.
What happens next for victims
The BBC said Levy had been downgraded by the Metropolitan Police as a risk to women before he carried out the attacks, and it reported that the Met accepted it did not class Valencia-Trujillo's death in March 2025 as a murder until after Levy had killed again. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was examining whether action could or should have been taken to prevent reoffending and whether officers followed policies, procedures and training, while noting that the serving of conduct notices does not necessarily mean disciplinary proceedings will follow. The BBC quoted a woman assaulted on public transport saying: "It didn’t need to take all of those women for Simon Levy to be finally put into prison… the attacks could have been prevented," and said another victim described learning he was on bail as "worse than even the physical assault".
“Members of the victims’ families burst into tears as the verdict was delivered after the jury deliberated for 13 hours.”
The Irish News said members of the victims’ families burst into tears as the verdict was delivered after the jury deliberated for 13 hours, and it quoted Detective Chief Inspector Neil John appealing for any more victim-survivors to come forward. With sentencing adjourned until Wednesday August 12, the case leaves the criminal justice system facing renewed scrutiny as the BBC reported that Levy’s case will lead to renewed scrutiny of the Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s position.