Double murder accused declines to give evidence

A man with previous convictions for sexual assault, who is accused of murdering two women, has chosen not to give evidence at the Old Bailey during his trial.

Simon Levy, 40, is alleged to have carried out a violent sexual attack on a woman in a car park in Tottenham, north London, in January last year, breaking her collarbone.

He is also accused of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in Walworth, south London, in March last year, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, in Tottenham in August.

Prosecutors described Levy as a serial predator who arranged to pay the women for sexual activity before killing them.

Jurors were told he has previous convictions for sexual assault, six of them from the same period as the alleged offences.

The court heard the second killing took place in the same car park where the surviving woman was said to have been attacked.

After the prosecution closed its case, the Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft KC, asked Levy's barrister, Siobhan Grey KC, whether her client would give evidence.

She said he had declined, and confirmed he had been advised that the jury could draw inferences from his decision not to testify.

The defence instead called forensic pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer, who the court was told had advised on television dramas including Silent Witness.

Having reviewed the post-mortem examination findings, Dr Lockyer agreed the cause of the women's deaths was "unascertained", which he said was relatively rare in forensic work.

Giving evidence on Ms Valencia-Trujillo's death, he said the fact her body was found face down had "complicated" matters, particularly where there was a suggestion of possible neck compression.

Levy, of Tottenham, has denied murdering both women.

He has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and non-fatal suffocation against the surviving woman.

The trial continues.

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