Convicted killer Simon Levy, branded a “predatory monster,” has been handed a life sentence today and will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Levy, 40, was found guilty of the brutal murders of 53-year-old Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins, as well as raping and almost fatally suffocating a third woman.
Sentencing him, Judge Mark Lucraft said Levy had “ruthlessly exploited” all three victims for his own sexual gratification.
After his conviction at the Old Bailey last week, it was revealed that Levy had targeted women for years, with many of his crimes committed while he was on bail.
Earlier this year, Levy was convicted of 13 sexual assaults carried out between 2018 and 2025. Detectives believe his offending may have involved daily attacks over several years, escalating from groping women on the London Underground to rape, suffocation and, ultimately, murder.
In court today, Sheryl’s sister Lindsey Hicks broke down in tears as she said Levy had “destroyed our lives,” telling him: “I hope you rot in prison for the rest of your life.”
“Sheryl was a beautiful soul who was cruelly taken away,” she said. “This last year has been the worst year of our lives and the pain you have put us through has been unbearable.”
The Recorder of London told the court that Levy had shown a “morbid fascination with sex, rape and crime.”
Levy, who wore sunglasses throughout the sentencing hearing, smiled as he entered the dock to be sentenced. He spoke only to confirm his name during the hearing.
‘Predatory monster’ Simon Levy will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced today
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John spoke outside the Old Bailey after Levy was found guilty
Sheryl Wilkins was murdered by Levy on August 28, 2025. The killer left her body in the same location as an earlier rape attack, just minutes from his own home
As the weeping families of his victims read their statements, Levy watched them from the dock. The double killer betrayed no emotion, standing with his hands clasped as he was sentenced.
One family member shouted ‘yes’ as the judge told the Old Bailey that Levy would serve a whole life sentence.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC, told Levy: ‘You are clearly someone who ruthlessly exploits others for your own personal sexual satisfaction.’
It can now now be revealed how police and probation missed a monster in their midst. In an appalling betrayal of victims, the convicted sex offender was repeatedly released on bail despite being repeatedly arrested on suspicion of sexual assaults and even murder.
Although he had a shocking record for sexual violence dating back to 2018, British Transport Police (BTP), the Metropolitan Police and magistrates all failed to appreciate the danger he posed, releasing Levy on bail four times leaving him free to daily stalk the transport network claiming countless victims.
While on bail he carried out at least six sexual assaults on the Tube, Levy raped and suffocated a sex worker leaving her for dead before killing two other women in a two-year rampage.
In a shocking catalogue of police blunders, it can now be revealed that women had been reporting Levy for rape and sexual assault for almost a decade, but he got away with it time and time again when police and prosecutors failed to put him behind bars.
Now there are calls for a public inquiry into the scandal as campaigners say the case makes a mockery of police promises to tackle violence against women and girls in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder by Scotland Yard officer Wayne Couzens.
Police, who have described him as a ‘predatory monster’, believe there are many other women who have not yet come forward.
In a powerful victim impact statement to court today, Sheryl’s sister Ms Hicks turned to the double killer and said: ‘We will continue to live as a loving family through our loss, supporting each other. You don’t get to take that away.’
Carmenza’s daughter Nazly Johana Fuenmayor Valencia told the court that their lives had been ‘ripped apart’ by the murder.
‘There’s an emptiness that can’t be filled,’ she said.
‘I have been ripped apart.’
Paying tribute to her ‘beautiful’ mother, she added: ‘She was a truly special person who gave so much love to others. Her kindness, her smile and the love she shared so freely will stay with us forever.
‘We have been living a nightmare we cannot wake up from. We don’t know why she was taken from us.
‘The rest of our lives will never be the same.
‘My mum came to this country to give her children a better life and for safety. Instead her life was taken so cruelly.’
Sherly’s mother Mary Wilkins, in a statement read by junior prosecutor Kerry Broome, said: ‘There will never be enough words to explain what it feels like to lose a child.
‘You, Simon Levy, have completely destroyed our lives.
‘Our Sheryl has ended your chances of hurting anyone else, she lost her life to do this but we truly believe Sheryl has saved countless women.
‘You took away our beautiful daughter Sheryl. She was a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend and a beloved family member. She had four beautiful children.
‘Sheryl was taken from us one day before her 40th birthday, she had so many hopes and dreams. She should’ve celebrated her 40th birthday, she should’ve grown old with us, instead all of that was taken away.’
She added: ‘Sheryl’s life mattered, Simon you have changed our lives forever but you cannot take away our love for Sheryl.’
The partially blind offender was first jailed for three years in 2021 for carrying out sex attacks on two women at Notting Hill Carnival and a Camden street party in 2018.
But even in jail he continued to target women, groping a prison officer in 2022.
Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo was found face down in a stairwell of a disused block of flats in Southwark, south east London
A photo taken of Levy during one of his Tube attacks – he carried out at least six sexual assaults while on bail
When he was released early at the halfway point of his sentence in February 2023, Levy told probation staff that sex workers were frequently offering him services, yet he claimed to never leave his home due to his eye condition.
In reality, Levy was still on licence in October 2023 when he started venturing on the Tube for prey, roaming stations across London at peak times when he knew carriages would be packed with passengers, leaving women unable to escape his clutches.
Travelling free on the Tube with an Oyster card stolen from a bus driver, Levy tied a jumper around his waist to hide his wandering hand as he grabbed the women around him.
Levy was supposed to be supervised by both probation and police ViSOR (violent and sex offender register) staff.
But his chilling fascination with rape and murder went unnoticed as the pervert secretly amassed a huge collection of newspaper stories about notorious offenders he lionised like black cab rapist John Worboys, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and Harvey Weinstein.
Levy was arrested in November 2024 for two sex attacks on the Tube, but a blundering BTP officer delayed doing basic ID checks for weeks, opting instead to extend his bail on January 21, 2025.
Emboldened, that night Levy committed his first rape.
In a brutal attack, he jumped on a prostitute, breaking her collar bone before raping her while he suffocated her with one hand squeezing her neck and another covering her face with a finger down her throat, leaving her near death.
On March 17 Levy struck again using the same tactic.
The body of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo was found face down in a stairwell of a disused block of flats in Southwark, south-east London.
Her neck had been compressed, her face smothered and a pipe smeared with his blood was found beside her.
Four days before he was arrested on April 1 over the murder, Levy was still telling police visiting his home as part of routine convicted sex offender checks that he never went out.
It was a blatant lie that a simple police computer check would have exposed as Levy was on bail at the time for a series of sex attacks on the Tube.
Scotland Yard decided to release him on bail after the cause of the 53-year-old drug user’s death was deemed to be ‘unascertained’ in a post-mortem.
After learning of his arrest for murder, BTP officers procrastinated, deciding to do a risk assessment and extend his bail to May 1, instead of arresting him for further offences on April 3.
Levy reacted to the news by accelerating his offending, carrying out four further attacks on the underground before he answered bail on that date.
On May 2, he was charged with five sex assaults on the Tube and was remanded in custody overnight.
But astonishingly he was released on bail by magistrates even though he was also suspected of murder.
Levy failed to show up at court when he was charged with a sixth sex assault charge on June 3, but officers failed to issue a warrant.
Three weeks later he was spotted on the underground by a BTP officer and charged with breaching his bail condition by going on the Tube, failing to appear at court and committing two sex attacks at Charing Cross and Westminster station sex attacks.
Incredibly when he appeared at court, Levy was granted bail again.
He failed to attend further hearings on July 18 and August 11, yet no warrant was sought for his arrest.
On August 28, Levy claimed his second murder victim smothering Sheryl Wilkins, leaving her body in the same location as the earlier rape attack, just minutes from his own home.
Police arrested him on September 5 after he was identified at the scene on a facial recognition camera.
He was remanded in custody three days later.
In February this year Levy was convicted of carrying out 11 sexual assaults between April 2022 and May 2025 in a prosecution which was kept secret for fear of prejudicing his subsequent murder trial which ended last week.
