A man allegedly murdered two women after police dropped a rape investigation against him, a court has heard. Simon Levy, 40, reportedly carried out a violent sexual attack on a trafficked sex worker before he murdered Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, last March and 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins last August.
The Old Bailey heard how a woman reported being raped in a car park in Tottenham, north London, but was not well enough to be interviewed because she was withdrawing from drugs. As a result, police dropped the case on June 8 last year. It has now been revealed that Ms Wilkins was found dead in the same B&M car park, with Levy, of Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, north London, suspected of her murder. He is also accused of killing Ms Valencia-Trujillo whose body was found in a stairwell of a disused block of flats in Southwark, south east London.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Detective Sergeant Nina Muchamore, of the Metropolitan Police, said she was aware of a rape allegation by a sex worker on January 25 last year. The homeless woman had also been arrested for an unrelated matter and taken to hospital with a collarbone injury.
Det Sgt Muchamore told jurors the woman claimed the rape took place on the Tuesday evening but she could not be clear about when the alleged attack took place. When another officer spoke with the victim at Wood Green Police Station, she was unfit to give more information as she was withdrawing from heroin addiction.
Prosecutor Kerry Broome asked: “What did you decide could be done?” The officer replied: “Very little. There was not much of an investigation in terms of what happened with that rape.”
She added: “We did very little apart from see what CCTV was in the B&M car park. We knew there was not much coverage. To give you a bit of understanding, we managed about 150 rape investigations so in order to prioritise we would need more to know exactly what we are looking for.”
Det Sgt Muchamore then visited the woman in her cell on January 26 and found her to be very unwell. She could barely lift her head from the mattress and was deemed unfit to consent for the recovery of forensic evidence.
The police officer told jurors: “I did ask her questions. She repeatedly told me she felt sick and gave no further context.”
The investigation was eventually closed at the start of June, with Det Sgt Muchamore explaining in court: “It was felt we had made significant attempts to try to speak to (the woman) and at that time we felt it was not the right time for her to support an investigation.”
The body of Ms Wilkins was then discovered by uniformed police officers in the same B&M car park the alleged rape had taken place. Sergeant Gemma Claydon spoke to the reported rape victim following the discovery in September and she said: “I knew it. He strangled me. He lived off White Hart Lane.”
Sgt Claydon said: “I didn’t know much about the rape allegation at all other than the murder team believed they were connected.”
After being asked why she did not record the conversation, she added: “Sex workers don’t trust police officers who put body worn [cameras] in their faces.”
Levy has pleaded not guilty to the two women’s murders. He has further denied two charges of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent, and non-fatal suffocation against a surviving woman.
The Old Bailey trial continues.