A British court has sentenced serial sex offender Simon Levy to spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murdering two women and violently raping a third, in a case that has also triggered scrutiny of failures by police, prosecutors and the wider criminal justice system.
Levy, 40, was handed whole-life orders at the Old Bailey in London on Wednesday for the murders of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, both killed in 2025. He was also sentenced to concurrent life terms, with a minimum of 12 years, for two rape offences involving a surviving victim.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC said a whole-life term was appropriate because of the sexual circumstances surrounding the murders and Levy’s history of offending. The sentence means he will never be eligible for parole.
Levy had been a registered sex offender and had previous convictions for sexual offences against women. Metropolitan Police records also confirm that he had been arrested in April 2025 on suspicion of Valencia-Trujillo’s murder but was released while investigations continued. He was later re-arrested in September following Wilkins’ death.
The case has raised serious questions over how Levy remained free despite his history and repeated encounters with law enforcement. The Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and Crown Prosecution Service have all acknowledged failings connected with the handling of his cases.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley described what happened as a “whole system failing,” while critics have questioned decisions relating to bail, risk assessments and the handling of information about Levy’s previous offences.
An earlier account of Levy’s trial showed that prosecutors had described him as carrying out a series of predatory sexual attacks against vulnerable women during 2025. He had been accused of raping and attacking the surviving woman in January, killing Valencia-Trujillo in March and later murdering Wilkins in August.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, relatives of the murdered women described the devastation caused by their deaths, while Levy’s surviving victim said she was trying to rebuild her life following the attack.
The court heard that the two murders bore striking similarities. Judge Lucraft said Levy had ruthlessly exploited vulnerable women and referred to material recovered from his electronic devices indicating what the court described as a troubling preoccupation with rape, sex and crime.
The whole-life order places Levy among a relatively small number of prisoners in England and Wales who have no prospect of release.
