Levy case revives questions over policing after Everard killing
Simon Levy was jailed for double murder while on bail, after attacks that experts say echo the failures exposed by Sarah Everard’s killing. The case
Simon Levy was jailed for double murder while on bail, after attacks that experts say echo the failures exposed by Sarah Everard’s killing. The case has reopened a sharp question in Britain: what, if anything, has changed in policing since then?
A hidden stretch of Tottenham
Just off Tottenham High Road, behind a 2-metre wall topped with spikes and out of sight of nearby CCTV, Levy took two women to a delivery slip road beside a B&M homewares store. It was a narrow patch of concrete, about 40 metres from the street and within easy walking distance of the north London home he shared with his mother and sister.
Police and court evidence described it as a place Levy tried to make his own. Twice, he brought women there. Both were sex workers. One survived only just after a brutal assault in January 2025 that included rape and strangulation. The other, Sheryl Wilkins, died there in August 2025.
Between those attacks, Levy travelled south to London and killed Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025. His trial ended on Friday with convictions for the double murder.
Questions about warning signs
The handling of the cases is part of what has unsettled experts. Levy was free on bail when he committed the murders, a detail that has drawn attention because of the repeated attacks and the timing between them.
His trial also heard from the survivor of the January assault. Prosecutor Tom Little KC said her evidence probably showed what the other victim had suffered. The testimony was central, and grim. It laid out a pattern of violence that investigators and policymakers cannot easily shrug off.
Sarah Everard’s killing still shadows any discussion of police response to violence against women in Britain. The Levy case does not sit in a vacuum. It lands in a national conversation about whether systems meant to protect women, especially those at higher risk, are still missing the signs that matter most.
Why the case matters beyond London
The location itself tells part of the story. A public place, yet concealed. Close to busy roads and a football stadium, but screened by walls, distance and timing. Easy to reach. Hard to see.
That combination has a wider resonance far beyond Tottenham. Around the world, police forces have faced pressure to do more than react after a killing. They are being pushed to spot escalation earlier, to treat repeated abuse as a pattern, and to understand why some victims remain less visible to the authorities than others.
For now, the Levy case stands as a fresh and brutal test of those promises. As prosecutor Little put it during the trial, the survivor’s account likely revealed what the other victim went through. That is the evidence now sitting at the centre of the debate.
