Met Chief Defends Simon Levy Probe After 2 Murders, Admits 2024 Risk Downgrade Mistake
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 13
Met Chief Defends Simon Levy Probe After 2 Murders, Admits 2024 Risk Downgrade Mistake
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 13
Summary
Sir Mark Rowley said detectives did serious work on Simon Levy’s first suspected killing but lacked enough evidence to charge before he murdered again, rejecting claims the Met failed to try.
March 2025 victim Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo’s death was not classified as murder or sent to homicide specialists until after Sheryl Wilkins was killed five months later, when Rowley said combined evidence allowed action.
Rowley acknowledged the Met was too slow to question Levy over a 2022 sexual assault in HMP Brixton and wrongly downgraded him from high to medium risk in August 2024, reducing monitoring.
Wednesday’s whole-life sentence for Levy, 40, came after the Met and CPS apologized for decisions that left him free; an IOPC review is examining his management from 2021 to 2025.
Critics including Jess Phillips and Mina Smallman called the case a wider state failure, while Rowley said the Met is 4,000 officers smaller than four years ago and monitors 10,800 sex offenders.