Simon Levy, who is serving a life sentence for the murders of two women and the rape of a third, has denied stabbing a prison guard in the neck with a pen and attempting to strangle him. Levy appeared via videolink from HMP Belmarsh at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, entering not guilty pleas to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intentional strangulation.
The alleged incident occurred on February 18, when Levy was being held on remand at the maximum security prison. Prosecutor David Burns stated that Levy attacked guard Paul Dunne with a pen, stabbing him multiple times in the arm and neck before grabbing the officer around the throat and tightening his grip.
Levy, formerly of Tottenham, north London, was handed a whole-life prison term in August for murdering grandmother Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and mother-of-four Sheryl Wilkins, 39, the previous year. His prior offenses included at least 13 sexual assaults, for which he received a three-year sentence in 2021 for attacks at Notting Hill Carnival and a Camden street party in 2018. He also groped a prison officer in 2022.
Despite being under investigation for murder and having a history of sexual assaults, Levy was released in February 2023 and continued to offend. He was arrested in November 2024 for two sex attacks on the tube, but his bail was extended. That same night, he raped and nearly killed a sex worker, breaking her collarbone and suffocating her. He then murdered Ms. Valencia-Trujillo on March 17 using a similar method.
Levy was arrested days after Ms. Valencia-Trujillo's murder but was released on bail pending a postmortem. He subsequently carried out four further attacks on the underground. On May 2, he was charged with five sex assaults but released on bail, despite being suspected of murder. After a sixth sex assault charge on June 3, he failed to appear in court, but no warrant was issued.
He was spotted on the underground by an officer three weeks later and charged with breaching bail, failing to appear in court, and committing two sex attacks. Incredibly, he was granted bail again. He missed further hearings on July 18 and August 11, yet no arrest warrant was sought. On August 28, Levy murdered Ms. Wilkins, leaving her body near his home.
Levy was arrested on September 5 after being identified by facial recognition cameras. In February of this year, he was convicted of 11 sexual assaults between April 2022 and May 2025. On August 12, he received a whole-life sentence for the murders, as well as concurrent life sentences for two rapes, four years for grievous bodily harm, and two-and-a-half years for intentional smothering.
Levy's trial for the alleged assault on the prison guard is scheduled for February 15 next year and is expected to last up to four days.