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The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has publicly defended the investigation undertaken by the force in relation to Simon Levy, who was convicted of murdering two women and sexually assaulting a third. Levy, who was on bail and under police supervision at the time, killed Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later. Despite criticism over the handling of the case, Sir Mark insisted that the police had made considerable efforts to build a case following the first murder, though insufficient evidence at the time prevented charges.
Sir Mark acknowledged that there were errors in how Levy’s case was managed but rejected claims that the police failed to take action after Valencia-Trujillo’s death. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he explained that detectives undertook “serious” investigations but lacked the necessary evidence to move forward with charges. The Metropolitan Police did not seek a charging decision from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) until after Wilkins’s murder. He described the case as a “whole system failing,” underscoring the complexity of events and the challenges faced by the force.
It emerged following Levy’s conviction that the initial death of Valencia-Trujillo was not immediately treated as a murder case, nor handed to specialist homicide detectives. Sir Mark highlighted that despite the suspicious nature of the death, a pathologist was unable to establish a clear cause, complicating the police response. Moreover, critical evidence such as CCTV footage and forensic materials were not fully utilized or collected by local officers, resulting in missed opportunities. The specialist homicide team was only involved on the day the body was found and recommended that the case remained with the local investigation team, who did not engage with the specialists again until after the second murder took place.
Sir Mark openly admitted to mistakes by the police, including a delay of five months before questioning Levy over a sexual assault on a prison officer in April 2022, and an inappropriate downgrading of his offender risk level in August 2024, which reduced monitoring intensity. “Those are mistakes and those are our mistakes, that is part of what is being investigated and that is part of what we’ve apologised for,” he said. He also highlighted failings in other parts of the criminal justice system, pointing out that Levy was released on licence after assaulting a prison officer, a decision not made by the prison service but by statutory automatic release rules. Sir Mark emphasized that while the Met is accepting accountability, other agencies have yet to demonstrate similar responsibility.
The handling of Levy’s case has drawn sharp criticism from figures such as former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, who described the second murder as preventable and characterized the case as a “litany of failures.” Phillips praised Sir Mark’s efforts to reform the Met regarding violence against women but stressed the need for police forces to confront entrenched attitudes that affect how women’s reports of violence are received. She also called for robust protocols governing the management of sudden deaths of vulnerable women and indicated that other criminal justice bodies have significant progress to make to match police improvements. These criticisms were echoed by Mina Smallman, mother of two women murdered in London in 2020, who suggested that sex work carried out by Valencia-Trujillo may have contributed to her not being taken seriously by authorities.
Smallman contended that the Met’s repeated public apologies for failings risk becoming hollow, despite believing Sir Mark is genuinely committed to change. She voiced concern about the scale of challenges faced by the force, noting its substantial shrinkage by 4,000 personnel over four years, while the number of sex offenders under surveillance continues to grow rapidly. Sir Mark acknowledged the systemic strains placed on the police by long-term underfunding and increasing demands, describing it as “systemic disinvestment by successive governments,” which has severely impacted resources amid rising caseloads
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