Badenoch demands ‘rigorous enforcement’ after ‘litany of failures’ in Levy case

The case of a serial sex attacker left free to murder two women is “symptomatic of the litany of failures” in the criminal justice system, Kemi Badenoch has said.

The Conservative leader described Simon Levy, who was convicted at the Old Bailey on Friday, as a “modern-day Jack the Ripper” who was “released repeatedly and allowed to continue his campaign of terror against women”.

Writing in the Daily Mail, she said: “Simon Levy’s victims paid the price for a system that failed to impose consequences. No more women should have to pay that price.”

Levy, 40, now faces a whole-life sentence after he was convicted of murdering grandmother Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in March 2025 and mother-of-four Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in August that year.

He was also convicted of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and the non-fatal smothering of a third woman.

The attacks were part of a crime spree lasting seven years that also included myriad sex attacks while the police and courts failed to stop him.

Levy was repeatedly released on bail or not arrested despite failing to attend court hearings for other offences, and delays in police investigations saw leads not pursued until after he had killed twice.

The Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have all admitted failings in how they dealt with Levy.

Mrs Badenoch said: “His case is symptomatic of the litany of failures at all levels that bedevil our criminal justice system.

“Prosecutions undermined by police blunders. Offenders escaping conviction because the Crown Prosecution Service prepared its cases so poorly. Judges hamstrung by sentencing guidelines that prevent them handing down the sort of jail terms that fit the crime.”

Echoing former Conservative home secretary Michael Howard’s argument that “prison works”, she called for a focus on “rigorous enforcement and tough punishment”.

She said: “What we need are common-sense solutions. If people believe they can get away with crimes, or will escape with a slap on the wrist if they are convicted, they will continue to offend.”

Mrs Badenoch also attacked the Government’s early release policy, which has reduced the time many offenders, including some guilty of manslaughter, will actually spend behind bars.

She called for more prisons to be built, and cells rented in other countries to “manage the overcrowding problem”, rather than seeing “killers and rapists being let out onto the streets”.

Labour has argued that early release has been made necessary by prison overcrowding, and accused the Conservatives of failing to build enough prison spaces when they were in power.

Published: 08/08/2026 by Radio NewsHub