Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 29

London Murder Suspect Simon Levy Faced Jury With 13 Prior Sex Assault Convictions

Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 29

London Murder Suspect Simon Levy Faced Jury With 13 Prior Sex Assault Convictions

Q: One victim's cause of death is unknown. Can DNA evidence alone secure a murder conviction?

No. DNA can be powerful evidence, but on its own it usually does not prove murder, especially where the cause of death is unascertained. In English criminal law, prosecutors must prove an unlawful killing and the defendant’s intent to kill or cause really serious harm. DNA can place a suspect with the victim or at the scene, but it does not by itself show how the person died, when the fatal act happened, or what the suspect intended. That is the difficulty in the allegation over Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo. Levy’s DNA on her body and at the derelict building is potentially important because it may show contact and presence. But if the medical evidence cannot identify the physiological cause of death, the prosecution must rely much more heavily on surrounding evidence to prove that she was unlawfully killed and that Levy was responsible. A murder conviction can still be secured without a precise medical cause of death if the wider evidence is strong enough. Courts can infer guilt from a combination of forensic findings, CCTV, travel records, witness evidence, injury patterns, lies told by a suspect, and evidence of a similar alleged attack. In this trial, prosecutors are also pointing to Levy’s alleged pattern of sexually violent offending and the similarities between the women involved. So DNA alone is rarely enough. It is usually one part of a broader evidential picture. Where cause of death is unknown, the need for corroborating evidence becomes even greater.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 29

Old Bailey jurors heard Simon Levy, 40, had already been convicted of about 13 sexual assaults since 2018 as his trial opened on charges of murdering two women and raping a third.
Prosecutors said six of those offences fell in the first five months of 2025, overlapping with the alleged rape in January and the killings of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March and Sheryl Wilkins in August.
DNA and CCTV form key parts of the case: Levy's DNA was found on Valencia-Trujillo's body, while CCTV, blood on a jacket and semen on underpants tie him to Wilkins, prosecutors said.
The court also heard Levy was arrested in April 2025 over the first death before allegedly killing Wilkins months later; his lawyer says the surviving accuser is lying and that any sex with Wilkins was consensual.
Prosecutors say all three women were vulnerable and encountered Levy through sex work, arguing the attacks were sexually motivated and driven by his belief he could get away with them.