LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) – A British serial sex attacker was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail on Wednesday, after he was convicted of two murders and rape following an escalating spree of sexual offences which police and prosecutors failed to stop.
Simon Levy, 40, was found guilty last week of the murder of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and of Sheryl Wilkins in August 2025, as well as the rape and serious assault of a third woman in January that year.
Police had arrested Levy several times for sexual assaults against women on rush-hours trains before he was again arrested on suspicion of murdering Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in April 2025.
But Levy was released and sexually assaulted five women before he killed Wilkins, 39, in a brutal attack.
Judge Mark Lucraft said Levy was “clearly someone who ruthlessly exploits others for your own personal, sexual satisfaction” as he sentenced him to a whole-life order without the possibility of parole for the murder of Valencia-Trujillo and Wilkins.
He was also sentenced for two counts of rape, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and intentional strangulation in relation to a third woman.
Levy was separately convicted in February of sexually assaulting 10 women on London trains between October 2023 and May 2025, with six of the attacks in early 2025, and an 11th charge of sexually assaulting a prison officer in April 2022.
His crimes and the failures by police and prosecutors which allowed him to continue offending has prompted questions, while London’s Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the police watchdog for downgrading him to a medium-risk offender.
“Time and time again, opportunities to stop him were missed,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement.
“I am appalled by his crimes and the failures across multiple agencies that could have prevented him from harming, and ultimately killing, more women.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Michael Holden)
