Rape investigation closed before suspect murdered two women, court hears | UK | News
A court heard a man allegedly murdered two women after police dropped a rape investigation against him. Simon Levy, 40, reportedly carried out a violent sexual assault on a trafficked sex worker before killing 53-year-old Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo last March and 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins last August.
The Old Bailey heard a woman reported being raped in a car park in Tottenham, north London, but was not well enough to be interviewed because she was off drugs. As a result, police dropped the case on June 8 last year. It has now emerged that Ms Wilkins was found dead in the same B&M car park as Levy, in Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, north London, where murder is suspected. He is also accused of murdering Miss Valencia-Trujillo, whose body was found in the stairwell of a disused block of flats in Southwark, south-east London.
As reported by Daily MailDetective Sergeant Nina Muchamore, of the Metropolitan Police, said she was made aware of a sex worker’s alleged rape on January 25 last year. The homeless woman was also arrested for an unrelated reason and hospitalized with a collarbone injury.
Det Sgt Muchamore told jurors the woman claimed the rape took place on Tuesday evening but could not be specific about when the alleged assault took place. When another officer spoke to the victim at Wood Green Police Station, he was unavailable to give further information as he was recovering from heroin addiction.
Prosecutor Kerry Broome asked: “What did you decide could be done?” The officer replied: “Very little. There wasn’t much investigation into that rape.”
He added: “We did very little other than seeing what the CCTV was in the B&M car park. We knew there wasn’t a lot of coverage. To give you a bit of background, we’ve handled around 150 rape investigations so we’ll need more to know exactly what we’re looking for in order to prioritize.”
Det Sgt Muchamore later visited the woman in her cell on January 26 and found her to be very ill. He could barely lift his head out of bed and was deemed unfit to consent to the collection of forensic evidence.
The police officer told jurors: “I asked him questions. He repeatedly told me he felt ill and gave no further information.”
The investigation was eventually closed in early June and Det Sgt Muchamore told the court: “We were considered to have made significant attempts to speak to (the woman) and we felt at the time that it was not the right time for her to support an investigation.”
Ms Wilkins’ body was later found by uniformed police officers in the same B&M car park where the alleged rape took place. Sergeant Gemma Claydon spoke to the reported rape victim following the discovery in September and said: “I knew it. He strangled me. He was getting by in White Hart Lane.”
Sgt Claydon said: “I didn’t know much about the alleged rape other than the murder team believed they were connected.”
Asked why she didn’t record the conversation, she added: “Sex workers don’t trust police officers wearing body suits [cameras] on their faces.”
Levy pleaded not guilty to the murders of two women. He also denied two charges of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and non-fatal strangulation of a surviving woman.
The Old Bailey trial continues.
