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Simon Levy was on bail when he murdered the two women, five months apart

The Director of Public Prosecutions has said he is "deeply sorry" after admitting the Crown Prosecution Service were responsible for some of the failures which led to the murders of two women by a known sex offender.

Stephen Parkinson said the CPS were partly responsible for the failings of the authorities which led to Simon Levy , 40, to kill Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39.

Levy, a serial sex offender, was sentenced for life this week after being found guilty of murdering the two women and raping another woman in London.

Stephen Parkinson apologised for the CPS's failures in the Levy case, but urged people not to "lose faith".

He said: "I think the Metropolitan Police Commissioner is absolutely right to recognise that there have been failures across the criminal justice system, and we are responsible for part of that, so I do want to acknowledge our failures and and apologise.

"There were failures, we were responsible for some of those failures and I’m deeply sorry.

"I think I would like to add though, that this is a failure which was rare.

"It is an exceptional but tragic and appalling instance where something did go wrong. But I wouldn’t want people to lose faith in the criminal justice system.

"We are under pressure, but I think we are responding pretty well."

Levy, a jobless sex offender, conducted a spree of attacks on women from 2018 to 2025, culminating in the murder of Ms Valencia-Trujillo and Ms Wilkins, five months apart.

Levy, who is unemployed, was also found guilty of two counts of rape, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and non-fatal suffocation over a sex attack in January 2025.

Ms Valencia-Trujillo was found dead in a largely abandoned block of flats on the Aylesbury Estate in south east London in March last year.

Miss Wilkins was discovered behind a car park wall in Tottenham five months later.

The Metropolitan Police, the British Transport Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have all admitted failures were made in dealing with the serial sex offender, who was on bail when he murdered both Miss Valencia-Trujillo and Miss Wilkins.

Two police officers are under investigation for misconduct over the mishandling of Levy and his crimes, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.

The surviving victim had reported her being raped at the time and told the police she knew where the attacker lived, but was not formally interviewed by the force until after Levy had murdered two other women.

Mr Parkinson said the different divisions of the justice system should stop "taking shots at each other", after Sir Mark Rowley, the Met's police commissioner, criticised the courts for releasing Levy on bail.

He said: "I think relations between ourselves and the the police have never known them to be better.

"But to address your question, I don’t think that different parts of the system should be taking shots at each other.

"I don’t think that’s good for public confidence. I think the public want to know that lessons have been learned, and that we’re taking action as a result of the lessons."

The Director of Public Prosecutions did refuse to say how many CPS staff have faced disciplinary action over the case.

Mr Parkinson said: "It is important to respect confidentiality around human resources issues and I’m not going to undermine that.

"But what I do want to say is that a very full investigation took place many months ago arising out of the failures in this case.

"Everyone involved in those has been subject to that, and appropriate action has been taken."