Following an Old Bailey jury conviction of 40-year-old Simon Levy for two murders committed in London during 2025, police and prosecutors admitted to severe systemic failures and errors that left the proven sex offender free on bail to attack multiple women.
On Friday, an Old Bailey jury found Simon Levy, 40, guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later. The trial’s conclusion lifted reporting restrictions, revealing a litany of catastrophic institutional errors by the Metropolitan Police, the British Transport Police (BTP), and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that left a high-risk offender free in the community.
Escalating Train Assaults and BTP Investigation Delays
Levy’s pattern of targeting women across London intensified following his release from prison, where he had been jailed in 2021 for a sexual offence and subsequently assaulted a female prison officer. Between 2023 and 2025, he carried out a series of sexual assaults on the London tube network and trains, which were investigated by the British Transport Police.
His first recorded train victim was attacked on a busy Tube in central London. Levy positioned himself directly in front of the woman, pressed his elbow against her, and touched her inappropriately over her clothes. When other passengers intervened, Levy protested his innocence.
Pointing to a jumper draped over his arm, he called the woman crazy and stupid before getting off at Westminster station. Although the woman reported the assault to BTP and CCTV footage was available, police failed to identify him at the time, linking him to the case two years later only after further attacks occurred.
A year after that initial Tube assault, Levy assaulted three more women in quick succession. After one victim was assaulted, she filmed Levy sexually assaulting a second woman in the same carriage, immediately reporting the incident and providing footage to BTP. A week later, Levy assaulted a third woman. Although questioned and denying the three offences, BTP officers released him on bail, claiming they did not have enough evidence to charge.
The subsequent investigation was plagued by severe delays. Weeks passed before identity parades were arranged, and BTP waited six months before approaching the CPS. When BTP finally approached prosecutors in May 2025 because they had arrested Levy again and wanted him in court the next day, a CPS team had to scramble to make an emergency charging decision overnight.
Bail Failures and the Murders of Valencia-Trujillo and Wilkins
Despite knowing Levy posed a severe danger, police and prosecutors repeatedly failed to secure his remand in custody. Levy was arrested for train attacks in November 2024 with CCTV tying him to the scene, and six more assaults occurred in the first five months of 2025. By May 2025, police wanted Levy remanded, fearing he posed a high risk of reoffending
with his crimes “escalating”.
Instead, Levy remained free while on bail as a suspect for murder. In January, March, and August 2025, Levy attacked three women who provided sexual services in Tottenham, north London, killing two and leaving a third seriously injured. The jury convicted him of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in a partly disused tower block on 17 March 2025, by an 11-1 majority. He was unanimously convicted of murdering Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in a Tottenham car park on 24 August 2025. He was also convicted of raping and attacking a third woman, 35, who survived her January 2025 assault in the same car park.
The CPS admitted making errors at three separate court hearings in May, June, and August 2025 that allowed Levy to remain free. A CPS source acknowledged that failures included omitting mention that Levy had been arrested for Valencia-Trujillo’s murder, failing to record past sexual assault convictions, and failing to note he was a suspect in a 2024 rape. Furthermore, Levy failed to attend three crown court hearings for the train attacks, claiming illness for two and that he had not been informed for another, yet the CPS accepted there was no evidence of a warrant being sought for his detention. His final non-appearance occurred on 11 August 2025; two weeks later, he murdered Wilkins.
Institutional Admissions and Upcoming Sentencing
Senior officials from the Metropolitan Police, the CPS, and BTP have acknowledged institutional breakdowns. Kevin Southworth, a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, condemned the offender and highlighted the preventable nature of the second killing.
Southworth stated that Wilkins would probably have been alive were it not for what he described as collective system failures
. BTP Assistant Chief Constable Charlie Doyle also addressed the investigative shortcomings in an official statement.
“It is clear that opportunities to expedite the investigation were missed and we have amended our procedures to address these issues to ensure that repeat offenders are dealt with expeditiously and that linked offences are prioritised more effectively.”
Charlie Doyle, BTP Assistant Chief Constable
The Crown Prosecution Service similarly issued an institutional acknowledgment regarding its representation during bail proceedings.
“We accept there was relevant information regarding bail that was not provided to the court when bail applications were being considered. Our actions fell short of the standards that victims, families and the public are entitled to expect … We could and should have taken a more robust approach to representations about bail.”
Crown Prosecution Service
A CPS source confirmed that individuals involved in the Levy case have been disciplined, and reporting restrictions were lifted following the conclusion of the legal proceedings. Levy remained impassive, wearing dark glasses due to an eye injury, as the jury delivered the verdicts that condemned him to a mandatory life sentence. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday.
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