Simon Levy, 40, appearing at Highbury Magistrates’ Court (Image: PA)
A convicted “sex predator” killed two women and raped a third after police released him following his arrest over the first death, a court has heard. The Old Bailey was told that Simon Levy, 40, allegedly targeted three vulnerable women over an eight-month period in London last year, carrying out a rape before murdering two women months apart.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC told jurors the partially blind defendant was a “predatory serial offender” with an extensive history of sexual offending, describing him as a “sex predator” whose previous convictions were relevant to the case. Levy is accused of raping a 35-year-old sex worker in January 2025 before strangling her until she lost consciousness.
The woman told police she believed she was going to die after he allegedly broke her collarbone, smothered her face and forced a finger down her throat while telling her: “Shut up, be quiet, I got you.”
Two months later, the body of 53-year-old Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo was found in a stairwell of a disused block of flats on the Aylesbury Estate in Southwark.
A metal pipe carrying Levy’s blood was allegedly recovered beside her body, while his DNA was also found on the victim, the court heard.
Levy was arrested on suspicion of murder on April 1 but made “no comment” during police interviews. He was later released after Ms Valencia-Trujillo’s cause of death was initially recorded as unascertained.
Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, who died in the Aylesbury Estate, south-east London, on March 17 (Image: PA)
Four months later, prosecutors allege he struck again.
The body of 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins was discovered behind a wall in a Tottenham car park on August 24, close to where the earlier alleged rape took place and near Levy’s home.
Jurors heard Ms Wilkins suffered 83 separate injuries to her face, head, torso, arms and legs. Although her cause of death was also deemed unascertained, the prosecution alleges she may have died from smothering, neck compression or pressure applied to her chest. Levy’s DNA was allegedly found on her body.
Mr Little told the jury Levy had amassed a “large number of convictions for sexual offences upon women”, including convictions in 2021 for offences committed in 2018.
Sheryl Wilkins, 39, who was found unresponsive in Tottenham, on August 24 and pronounced dead (Image: PA)
He said Levy was also convicted on February 5 this year of 11 further sexual assaults committed between April 2022 and May 2025, six of which occurred in the same year as the alleged rape and murders.
The prosecutor said: “Sexual offending is something the defendant does.”
He added that the convictions demonstrated Levy’s “attitude and approach to women”, arguing they were relevant to the allegations before the court.
Defence barrister Siobhan Grey KC said the prosecution case relied on “coincidence” and argued there was no proof either woman had been unlawfully killed.
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She suggested both deaths could have been drug-related and said Levy’s previous sexual offence convictions were “wholly different” from the charges he now faces.
Levy denies murdering Ms Valencia-Trujillo and Ms Wilkins, maintaining he had consensual sex with both women.
He also denies two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and non-fatal suffocation.