Double murder accused is sex offender, jury told

Image source, Met Police Image caption, Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins died in March and August respectively By Daniel De Simone  and  Amy Johnston , Reporting from Old Bailey, London Published 29 June 2026, 13:27 BST Updated 21 minutes ago A man accused of murdering two women in London and raping a third is a serial sex offender, the Old Bailey has heard. Simon Levy, 40, from Tottenham, north London, is accused of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 54, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39 and raping and attacking a third woman - charges he denies. At the start of his trial on Monday, the court heard Levy had been convicted of some 13 sexual assaults committed since July 2018. The court was also told that Levy was arrested in April 2025 in relation to the first murder, months before allegedly committing the second murder in August 2025. Prosecutor, Tom Little KC said that, in September 2021 Levy was convicted, following a trial, of sexual assault committed in July 2018 and sexual assault by penetration committed in August 2018. He added that, in February this year, Levy was convicted of a series of sexual assaults on different women, namely 11 sexual assaults between April 2022 and May 2025. He said that six of those offences occurred in first five months of 2025 and were therefore contemporaneous with offences in this trial. "So a raft of offences including sexual touching and activity which was not consensual. That tells you everything you need to know about his attitude and approach to women." Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing Little said the three women to whom this trial relates were either sex workers or on occasions would perform sexual services in return for money or drugs. "That is no coincidence. It is why and how the defendant encountered them and it is also a reason why he attacked them, no doubt hoping and thinking that he would get away with it," Little added. The prosecutor alleged both murders were sexually motivated and that while sexual activity may have started consensually, it did not remain so. He said the surviving victim had been trafficked into the UK and was raped twice by Levy in January 2025 in a car park in Tottenham close to where Levy lived. Image source, Julia Quenzler Image caption, Simon Levy is on trial accused of murdering two women and raping a third Little said the woman was "left unconscious and left for dead having been assaulted, raped and notably strangled". He said that, during the attack, the woman "thought she was going to die". Jurors were told Levy allegedly jumped on the woman with all his weight, breaking her collarbone, before raping her while covering her face and grabbing her throat. Four days after the alleged attack she was arrested for breach of a community order while on her way to hospital for treatment for the injury to her collarbone. She told police that she had been raped, but was not well enough to be interviewed at the time because she