Up next in 10
Tom Swarbrick and his callers react as 'monster' serial sex offender Simon Levy is to die behind bars after a double murder and rape conviction.
Simon Levy, 40, killed grandmother Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in March 2025 and mother-of-four Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in August that year, as his spiral of offending escalated from sexual assaults on the Tube to double murder.
At the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Levy was sentenced by Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, to a whole life prison term, condemning him to spend the rest of his life in jail with no chance of ever being released.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
#tomswarbrick #crime #police #justice #ukpolitics #oldbailey #LBC
LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.
Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/
Sign up to LBC's weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
A predatory sex attacker, rapist and murderer was allowed to assault women on the underground on perhaps a daily basis
0:06
and went on to murder a woman while on bail for the murder of another
0:12
There are a series of failings across the criminal justice system which are completely jaw-dropping and incredibly worrying
0:19
for a crime, violence against women and girls, we were told would be treated as seriously as terrorism
0:27
Simon Levy given a whole life order at the Old Bailey today. LBC reporter Fraser Knight was there and has the full horrific timeline of events
0:34
Fraser. Tom, Simon Levy started his offending in 2018. Over seven years, minus a small spell in prison
0:42
he was allowed to continue his assaults on random women, mostly on public transport
0:48
Last January, he violently raped a woman in a car park in North London
0:52
leaving her with broken bones. She told the court in a statement today
0:57
he's a monster who took away my soul and my dignity. The woman had been trafficked to the UK as a child, she said
1:04
and that one night, she told the court, was worse than all my years of experience being trafficked
1:12
Debbie Lloyd from Justice and Care supported her through the investigation. She was trafficked into the UK when she was 12 years old
1:18
She turned to drugs as a consequence of that exploitation, but she survived every day with that until she met Levy, who almost killed her
1:27
Now Levy at that time was already under investigation and on bail from the British Transport Police
1:33
but was still able to go on to rape again and to kill
1:37
Carmenza Valencia Trujillo was found dead in a stairwell in South London in March
1:42
Her daughter said today that she had come to the UK from Colombia for a better, a safer life for her children
1:49
Now, she says, she still hasn't been able to tell her grandma back home that her mum was cruelly killed
1:56
We buried her on my grandma's birthday, she said, and I had to call her and say my mum wished her a happy birthday
2:03
Now, the Met had arrested Levy after Carmenza's death, but they didn't have enough evidence to charge him
2:08
And so they let him go under investigation. Five months later, he killed again
2:13
Cheryl Wilkins was found dead in the same car park where Levy had raped the women in January
2:20
And Judge Mark Leucraft Casey said today that he had a morbid fascination with sex as he jailed him for the rest of his life
2:27
You ruthlessly exploited and took advantage of each of those three women for your own personal sexual satisfaction
2:36
This cannot be described in any way as a borderline case. you will be in prison for life and there will be a whole life order
2:44
The Met Police, the British Transport Police and the Crown Prosecution Service
2:48
have all admitted failures, missed opportunities to stop Levy's offending. But I was taken aback by Sir Mark Rowley's comments this afternoon
2:55
as he very strongly blamed the crisis of the criminal justice system
3:00
He had been caught, he had been charged with offences. He was repeatedly by police put before the courts seeking remanding in custody
3:07
and between CPS and the courts, they kept bailing him. It's not acceptable for a struggling criminal justice system
3:13
to put increasing amounts of risks on the street and then say to the police, we're going to give you a bigger and bigger list of dangerous people to monitor
3:19
And we know early prisoner release or not, that pressure is going to continue to grow
3:23
As for Simon Levy, he's now one of only 70 or so people
3:27
serving a whole life order, a rare sentence which earlier this year became the default
3:32
for murderers who are motivated by sex. He had, Tom, already been jailed earlier this year to six years for 11 sexual assaults
3:41
Tonight, though, that sentence has been extended to the rest of his life
3:45
So Mark Rowley there, in a sense, passing the buck, saying we, the Met, had him, we wanted to hold him in prison cell, keep him on remand, but the courts, the CPS, said no
3:57
It was the British Transport Police who tried to get him remanded. The court said no. Mark Rowley has, I think, as part of the Met, also put their hands up and said
4:05
we got some of this wrong. Two of their officers are now under investigation by the watchdog
4:10
They were the people who were tasked with watching him after he was released from prison the first
4:14
time. But they are saying this is a collective failure. The entire system is in crisis
4:20
And this is, I think, the worry among those officers, something that could happen again
4:25
Because there was no system in place to monitor him properly. And when they attempted
4:30
whichever police force it was, attempted to put him behind bars on remand while waiting for a court appearance
4:37
And the court system said, no, we don't have the evidence. We're full. Do you know what they said
4:42
Well, Tom, there's about 10,000, tens of thousands of people who need to be monitored by police and probation all the time in London
4:49
The court, one source in the British Transport Police, said to me that they believed the court had said no
4:55
perhaps because of prisons being full. And perhaps at that time, the charges that had been put before the court were sexual assault by touching somewhat minor crimes that they may have seen this
5:07
But the CPS have admitted they didn't put all of the evidence forward
5:11
At that time, he was a suspect in a murder investigation. They haven't said what they didn't put forward, but putting two and two together, that may have been the thing that the court didn't hear
5:21
Here you have a degenerate predatory man given licence in effect by the authorities that are put on earth to protect you given licence by them to go out and carry on offending Time after time after time you heard the Met Commissioner there saying we tried to get him on remand and we were told no by the court system The CPS not putting forward potential bits of evidence that might see him put into prison whilst he on remand
5:48
And then police officers who are responsible for monitoring whilst he's on bail not doing the job
5:54
The failure is so widespread, it almost means everyone gets to avoid claiming responsibility for this
6:02
they just say I was the other person how do you how does that make you feel
6:08
as a woman particularly in a big city that here you have
6:14
a known degenerate a known predator repeatedly sexually assaulting women in this case on the London Underground
6:22
and he doesn't see the inside of a prison cell he's not held, he's not monitored 03456060973
6:29
it's another example not just of systemic failure and people not taking responsibility
6:33
but I'm afraid of a soft touch. We're just a soft touch
6:39
The list of failure is as long as your arm, I'm afraid, and it happens too often
6:43
So when you went to say to a police officer, that man there has done this, that or the other
6:49
what kind of response were you met with, given this is a crime that we were told by a former Home Secretary a few years ago
6:54
is to be treated the same as terrorism. And to be quite honest with you, at the time
6:59
I said I don't really know what that means anyone suspected of terrorism serious suspicions of
7:07
terrorism is monitored understandably you are picked up off the street and put into police
7:13
custody for extended periods of time if they think that you are planning a terrorist attack
7:19
quite rightly so what does it mean to say this is going to be treated as terrorism when here you
7:25
have an example of a man who is a known sex offender who is on uh being held or been arrested
7:33
in relation to a particular event but has been bailed even though the severity of the event
7:37
which should mean he is behind bars would that happen in any other form of criminality particularly
7:44
terrorism not a chance this was a crime violence against women and girls that was to be treated
7:48
akin to terrorism we were told some years ago joan if this had been a terror incident this person
7:53
presumably would have been off the streets far earlier than that than than this it's it's impossible
7:58
to believe anything else so in february 2023 which is three and a half years ago um violence
8:05
against women and girls was added to the national policing requirement and that supposedly put the
8:11
pursuit of men who attack women and girls on the same footing as terrorism and organized crime
8:17
and the national police chiefs said at the time that what this meant what this translates as
8:22
into the fact that they would relentlessly pursue perpetrators. And looking at this case, I can't see a relentless pursuit
8:31
I can see a lot of failures. But, you know, women are told this all the time
8:36
that, you know, this has been taken seriously. And yet somebody like this, somebody as dangerous as this
8:42
who's also escalating, you can see that his behaviour is getting worse
8:46
And yet somehow the police, Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police, cps the courts somebody along there is not actually putting that promise into action
8:56
he was uh on bail four times which left him free to stalk basically stalk the transport network
9:03
daily um they they think that there are a huge number of victims who are yet to come forward
9:08
it says here while on bail he carried out at least six sexual assaults on tube raped and
9:13
suffocated a sex worker leaving her for dead before then killing two other women in in what was
9:17
a two-year rampage as such, Joan. Bearing in mind we are seeing people being released early
9:24
from prison who have committed violence against women in particular, what confidence do you have
9:29
in a probation system, in a criminal justice system that can monitor violent men
9:34
None at all. And, you know, the probation service itself is saying that it's virtually on its knees
9:40
That, you know, I think on average a probation officer will have about 30, 32 offenders to
9:45
monitor and the system is that you know so so some of them will be wearing tags some of them
9:50
will be under exclusion orders all an exclusion order means is that you're not supposed to go to
9:55
certain places like where you know if you're a domestic abuser you're not supposed to go to your
9:59
ex-wife's house or your child's school or whatever but what happens if if you break that order so the
10:05
woman has to ring um the probation service uh ring the police say this man is is approaching me he is
10:12
under an exclusion order, somebody then has to manually look up to make sure that he is under
10:17
an exclusion order. And this is no reassurance to victims at all. What does it then mean to say
10:25
that this is a crime, violence against women and girls, that is treated like terrorism? What does
10:30
that actually mean? Well, if it was treated like terrorism, it's impossible to imagine that a
10:35
terrorist suspect who is seen repeatedly, you know, hanging out with other people suspected
10:40
of terrorism, who seems to be preparing some kind of attack, who's in touch with dangerous
10:46
people. The idea that they would be repeatedly allowed out on bail is just impossible to
10:52
believe. So I think this is rhetoric. I think that every prime minister since Theresa May
10:59
who I think was sincere in her protestations that she hated violence against women
11:05
they all say this. And yet you have police forces and a prime prosecution service
11:10
who seem not to understand the first thing about these kind of predatory men The point is that they escalate These are serial crimes These are not men who you know lose control and beat up her former partner once or you know
11:23
attack a woman on a tube and never do it again. Every time they do it and they get away with it
11:28
and they're arrested and they're bailed, they gain confidence. And the awful thing about this
11:33
and you know, some of us have been saying this for years, is that the criminal justice system is actually creating serial offenders by not dealing with them right at the beginning
11:42
Jade's a new caller in Plymouth. Hi, Jade. Hi. Hi. Thoughts on this
11:48
Generally, I'm quite shocked, actually, at the fact that our justice system is quite poor
11:54
in the fact that women feel more vulnerable than ever. And the fact that we actually feel
11:59
well, me and quite a few of my friends now feel like we have to take stuff out ourselves, in our bags, such as aerosols
12:06
just in case anything ever happens. Because no one ever steps in to help any women
12:12
which is really sad, people would rather get their phones out and film it
12:15
than actually help people out who are in trouble. And then also the justice system is horrendous
12:24
No one gets prosecuted well enough, and if they do, it takes years to do it
12:29
Tell me then what has led to you carrying stuff in your bag
12:34
an aerosol or whatever, to ward people off? What has happened to mean that that is the case
12:39
Oh, just like the mass amounts of attacks on women. People getting raped, people getting abused
12:44
I would never want to be in that position. Of course, no one would
12:49
I just generally think that there's so much out there now. And obviously, media is a massive influence on people's lives
12:57
the news and the media and the radio, about world porting stuff, that we hear more and more about it than ever
13:04
The world is a lot smaller. So you and your friends are taking matters into your own hands and sort of protecting
13:14
yourself to some extent? A little bit, yeah. Obviously we're not actually using anything, but if anything was to actually arrive, then
13:20
we feel a bit more comfortable that we can actually go out by ourselves and not feel
13:25
as vulnerable as what we tend to be. Have you felt this vulnerable before
13:29
Or is this new? No, not really. I was younger, I mean, I'm like late 30s now
13:35
When I was younger, I used to go out all the time. It was absolutely fine. Now, I just, I feel like it's just, yeah
13:42
it's got worse and worse progressively over the past 10 years or so. And is that because the criminal justice system
13:48
has been creaking so much over the last 10 years that we're in a position where someone who is accused of sexual assault
13:55
or arrested for some very serious offences is not immediately held on remand? I think so
14:00
I think it's under so much pressure from so many people. There's no investment in the infrastructure of actually how it's ran
14:10
And there's more and more people who are contributing to the crime
14:14
So, of course, it's going to be more and much slower, generally under pressure
14:19
So it has gone downhill. It's like everything, like all the doctors and everything
14:23
there's more people to deal with. But no one invests anything into the infrastructure
14:27
Well, it doesn't, I'm afraid, give anyone much hope for the beefed up measures that have been putting place to protect people from those who've been released early under this new scheme
14:37
You know, we're going to put in the government, say we're going to put in loads of tagging. We're going to have lots more probation officers, all that kind of stuff
14:45
How hopeful that that works can you be when you have an absolute horror show like this
14:53
You're talking about terrorism and you're talking about prison places. I went to the trial of the Filton 4 a couple weeks ago
15:01
They were held on remand without trial, without charge for over two years
15:08
They were convicted of criminal damage and assault. After they were convicted, they changed the law so that they sentenced them under terrorism
15:19
They were given four kids. They're in their 20s. And all they were trying to do was save lives
15:25
They broke a blood of drones, didn't they, in the Helvet Systems factory
15:29
But one of them also assaulted a female police officer, but yes. Yeah, the boy must have lost it, I believe that
15:35
He must have lost it, and he attacked one of the security officers who was on top of one of his friends
15:41
Anyway, I'll give you that. But at the same time, they were given nearly 30 years between them, right
15:47
And they were held without charge for two years on remand. They can do it when they want to, Tom
15:52
They can do it when they want to. The reason I'm ringing is to tell people who are listening to wake up
15:57
Wake up because you can see where their priorities are. That's all I'm saying. They can do it where they want to
16:03
Why are they clearing all these prison places? What are they fought for? Who are they going to put in there if they're not going to put in violent people
16:08
They're not going to put in rapists. Well, quite. They're not going to put in murderers. Who are they going to put in there? Violent people include those who beat up police officers
16:15
But I do... Come on, man. You know as well as I do. Well, sorry, Andy
16:19
When was the last time you beat a police officer up? I've never beaten up a police officer
16:24
Alright, so the boy maybe deserves the eight years that he got, right? Maybe. Okay, the girls
16:30
they didn't attack anybody Well, they attacked a building they broke equipment
16:35
Let's not get into the specifics They broke equipment Tom, they broke equipment that was going to kill people
16:42
All I'm saying to you is, wake up They can do it when they want to
16:46
They stitched them up You're talking now, Andy, about I guess the broader sentencing system within the criminal justice system What I saying Tom the reason I bringing it up is they can change it if they want to They can do it They can lock people up if they want to
17:04
Because they did to those kids. Well, I think, you know, insofar as one of them beat a police officer up with, I think, a hammer
17:13
I think they deserve to be held on remand. You don't want violent people walking the streets
17:17
but Andy I agree with you on the early release scheme as being redolent of a completely broken
17:25
prison system and criminal justice system that means we're having to get out of prison people
17:29
who should be in there for longer particularly it would seem getting people out of those prison
17:36
cells who are violent and I for the life of me do not understand that you know there are these are
17:42
the reason why they're doing this is in part based on projections by the Ministry of Justice
17:46
about the available prison space and the number of people who will be going to prison
17:51
Those projections historically have been wrong by some distance. So it may well be that the government is actually doing this
17:57
because they've been given a projection by the Ministry of Justice that says we're going to run out of prison spaces in November
18:02
that ends up being wrong. And so you have out into the population the early release of some violent people
18:08
who do not deserve to be out of prison, whose victims were led to believe that they would be in prison
18:13
for the requisite amount of time. that would be a complete and utter shambles um there are also i'm led to believe by various
18:21
people who work in the criminal justice system various uh countries in europe who have space in
18:27
their prisons who are renting it out for example estonia have rented out prison space to sweden
18:31
there is some suggestion that the latvians have uh quite a lot of prison space that is unused
18:35
i think much more should be done with that if we're going to get serious about keeping people
18:41
off the streets who shouldn't be on them, like this man who murdered two women whilst he was on bail
18:47
then I think we should look at absolutely every option available to us, including sending people, whoever they are
18:52
it doesn't matter if they're foreign-born, it doesn't matter, if they can be in a prison cell when they otherwise would be on the streets
18:59
and people know that they are violent, well, we can send them off to Riga or wherever
19:05
Trevor is in Chortley. Hi, Trevor. Hi there. Your thoughts on this
19:09
well crimes against women are a non-starter you shouldn't do it and quite frankly it's too
19:16
pervasive in society it's not your average man it's people who are known to one another in most
19:22
cases and and the predator these the rapist is uh is he doesn't know what's like but i mean this
19:30
man is a is a is beyond belief and i put it down to his uh his that is uh his mate is
19:37
is watching watching uh pornography and the man's fear and so forth and i'd also like to say when
19:43
it comes to sexism why is it not like this for the business exactly why is it not the sexual
19:48
miscreants act if you have to sign or get the social work to sign and if you break that you
19:53
will read certain tenets in that law and then that act and if you break what you should agree to
19:58
You come straight back to prison. Well, there are. I mean, there are people who are placed on all kinds of different curfews
20:05
that mean if they are committed another crime or are suspected of doing it or breach their order or whatever, they're back to prison
20:11
In fact, there are tens of thousands, 40,000 of those recalls, I think, in the last year
20:15
So there are a lot of them. But, Trevor, I think the question has to be answered fully
20:21
Why is it that someone who is charged with or has been arrested for crimes of this severity
20:27
are being allowed out into the community, apparently being watched. And where is the certainty that people
20:33
who are doing the watching have it under control? I don't blame the police
20:37
I do not blame the police. Why do you not blame the police? Why do the police get up off this scot-free
20:43
Because the police have a lot of things to deal with. It is a personal responsibility
20:48
If you treat women the way you treat them, you don't respect your own mother, and you don't respect any women in your family
20:53
Trevor, the police were meant to be monitoring this man, and they clearly did
20:59
Yeah, but he's using personal responsibility. You're right. The person who committed the crime is to be blamed for the crime
21:05
Completely agree. But there are people who are paid, professionals, to literally police people from being able to commit those crimes
21:14
certainly ones that they know about and ones that they are put on to monitor. This didn't happen
21:18
And so I'm not sure the police can... You can just say, oh, well, it's not the police's fault at all. I said please have responsibility
21:24
but there's no limit to what they can do they have a limited budget there should be more money to go to the place
21:28
there should be more responsibility personal responsibility and what has happened to our schools
21:32
and then let's say we've had rape lists and things like that and we've had people film where they're raping
21:37
not saying I'm going to say who they were but they were on beaches and woods
21:41
I know what you're talking about events in Brighton and things like that well there's another reason I'm afraid
21:47
for the understandable concern there is among a huge numbers I would suggest millions of women about the treatment they would
21:55
receive from the police if they ever god forbid got um sexually assaulted by somebody uh which is
22:02
doesn't seem to be on a par with terrorism which is what they were told a few years ago
22:06
Trevor thank you very much indeed for the call 03456060973 here's Caroline Tom it's not a soft
22:12
touch it's the misogynistic attitude that doesn't take the increasing rates of male to female
22:17
violence seriously or that tries to minimise it. Is that what's happened here? It's a minimising of
22:25
male to female violence and a fundamentally misogynist attitude that says, oh well, it'll be fine, don't worry, carry on. Is that what that is
#news