Stephen Parkinson, director of the Crown Prosecution Service, has apologized for failing to tell a bail court that Simon Levy, a serial sex offender, was under investigation for rape and murder before he was released. Levy, 40, has now received a whole-life sentence for murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins, plus a rape, all committed while on bail and under police monitoring. Wilkins was killed the day before her 40th birthday, found with 83 injuries.
Parkinson said the information existed in the system but prosecutors handling Levy's Saturday bail hearings, held during a busy list, were unaware of it and never presented it to the court. Asked whether Wilkins might still be alive had Levy been remanded, Parkinson conceded that in custody he could not have committed the crime. The CPS says it is adding staff, with offer letters going out this week.
Levy was not charged over a separate sexual assault on a female prison officer until October 2025, by which point he had attacked 13 more women, killing two. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has questioned why Levy was released from jail at all despite that assault; Parkinson responded by appealing for the justice system's various parts not to be seen 'taking shots at each other.'
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