Two police officers are under investigation by the policing watchdog for misconduct after a serial sex offender was left free to murder two women and rape a third.
Simon Levy’s crime spree spanned from 2018 to 2025 and included myriad sex attacks on women in public spaces and two killings, as the Metropolitan Police, the British Transport Police (BTP) and the courts failed to stop him.
The Met, BTP and Crown Prosecution Service have all admitted failings in how they dealt with Levy, who was on bail as his attacks on women escalated to double murder.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth, from the Met, said failures to remand Levy in custody at hearings at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court in May and June 2025 had left him free to kill a second time.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Friday that an investigation into alleged failures of Met Police officers in their management of Levy was “ongoing”.
The watchdog added that its investigation began in January following a voluntary conduct referral from the force, relating to alleged failures by two officers following Levy’s prison release on licence in February 2023.
The IOPC said it was “investigating the management of Simon Levy from his first conviction in September 2021 up to his arrest in September 2025”.
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We are examining whether action could or should have been taken to prevent his reoffending, and if all officers involved in his management followed policies, procedures and training.
“We are also assessing whether any learning, whether individual, force-wide, or nationally, or other changes should be implemented in light of the events under investigation.
“At this stage, we have served a gross misconduct notice on a police constable and a misconduct notice on a detective sergeant, which means that the actions of those officers are under investigation.
“The serving of conduct notices does not necessarily mean disciplinary proceedings will follow.”
On Friday, Levy, of Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, north London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in August that year.
Levy was also found guilty of two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and the non-fatal smothering of a third woman whose collarbone was broken during a brutal sex assault in January 2025 in the same car park where Ms Wilkins was later found dead.