Murder accused targeted vulnerable women, jury told

A man murdered two women and raped another in a "series of predatory sexual attacks" in London last year, a court has heard.

Simon Levy, 40, from Tottenham, north London, denies murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 54, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39. He also denies raping and attacking a third woman, who is still alive.

At the start of his trial at the Old Bailey the jury heard that Levy was arrested and questioned by police in April 2025 in relation to the first murder, months before allegedly committing the second murder in August 2025.

He answered "no comment" to all questions asked, and was later released without charge, the court heard.

Warning: This story contains details some viewers may find disturbing

Opening the prosecution case, Tom Little KC said the three women 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.

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 was withdrawing from heroin.

In September 2025 the woman was interviewed and described how she thought she was going to die during the alleged raped as she could not breathe and lost consciousness.

The Old Bailey was told that the physical description she gave and details of the address where the man lived matched Levy, and that she had picked him out in an identification parade.

Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, the second woman killed, was found dead in the stairwell of a derelict building in Walworth, south London, on 17 March 2025.

Little said Levy had travelled to the area the previous day, when Carmenza was last seen alive, and used to the live in the area.

He said Levy's DNA was found at the crime scene and on Carmenza's body.

Little said Levy met the third victim, Sheryl Wilkins, in Tottenham in August 2025.

He said they walked to the same car park where the first woman had been assaulted, raped and strangled seven months before.

Little said they were together for a lengthy period of time before Levy was seen to leave.

He said nobody else went behind a wall in the car park until Sheryl's body was found there the next morning by police.

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