LONDON — The murders of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins have prompted fresh questions about how safely women selling sex can work, report abuse and trust the authorities meant to protect them. Simon Levy, a registered sex offender with a history of sexual offending dating back to 2018, received a rare whole-life tariff after being found to have chosen vulnerable women he believed he could harm without consequence.
His case has drawn attention not only to police and prosecution failings, but also to the wider way the justice system responds to sex workers. Campaigners and survivors say that the risks faced by these women are longstanding, predictable and too often ignored, even when patterns of violence are visible. The issue has become sharper in Tottenham, where local policing tactics were already causing anger before Wilkins was killed.
Campaigners say violence against sex workers is routinely underestimated
Support groups argue that women who sell sex face levels of violence that are far higher than most people realise. National Ugly Mugs, a UK-wide charity, says it processed 1,047 reports of violence last year, but only 8% of the women involved agreed to share those incidents with police. The charity helps women report attacks, including anonymously, and sends alerts about clients to avoid.
Research cited by campaigners paints a bleak picture. A 2024 survey of women involved in prostitution across Scotland found that 90% had experienced violence, including attempted murder. It also found that a quarter had been sexually abused as children, while a sixth had been sexually exploited before the age of 18. Campaigners say these figures show why many women do not trust police to take their complaints seriously, especially after repeated dismissive treatment.
Tottenham policing tactics were already pushing women into greater danger
Sheryl Wilkins was murdered in a Tottenham car park in August 2025, the same place where Levy violently raped another woman, known in court as ED, earlier that year. By then, local officers were using the Clear, Hold, Build framework, a national approach introduced in 2023 to tackle organised crime and later used more widely against issues including begging, drug dealing and street-based sex work.
Women working in the area said closure zones and arrests for breaching them were making their work more dangerous. Police said the strategy was intended to improve safety and direct women towards better-lit places. But Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes said women were being driven into isolated, unlit areas and split up from each other, removing a basic safeguard they relied on when getting into clients’ cars.
Wilkins had been displaced from her regular spot on Fore Street. Other women in the area said her killing felt like the direct result of the policing approach.
Trust, intelligence and local support remain central to stopping repeat attacks
Campaigners say the problem is not simply where women work, but whether they feel able to speak to police before violence escalates. When women fear arrest, they are less likely to report small incidents that could help officers identify a dangerous pattern or serial offender. Adams said a better relationship with police would allow minor complaints to build into a clearer picture of a predator operating in the area.
Since the murders of Valencia-Trujillo and Wilkins, the Metropolitan Police has sent specialist officers to Tottenham to try to repair mistrust. They are working with local charities on personal safety, housing and healthcare. Support organisations say that is necessary, but also overdue. They argue that frontline practice has not kept pace with official harm-reduction guidance and that women are still too often cautioned, fined or arrested while men buying sex are less visible to enforcement.
Experts say better policy and funding are needed to prevent further deaths
Debate over how to reduce harm remains split. Groups such as the English Collective of Prostitutes and National Ugly Mugs argue that decriminalising prostitution would make women safer. Others say the priority should be criminalising men who buy sex. That divide has shaped policy for years, even as evidence has accumulated that managed, well-resourced approaches can save lives.
Belinda Brooks-Gordon, a professor of forensic psychology at Birkbeck, said she had warned in 2006 that hardline approaches were dangerous for women on the street. She pointed to the later deaths of five women in Ipswich as a warning ignored. She also said funding has been hollowed out over time, weakening pilots, surveillance and specialist work around sex offender registers. For campaigners, the Levy case is another reminder that prevention depends on taking seriously the women who are best placed to identify danger.
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