How police let a registered sex offender murder and attack women

One of the most upsetting and depressing things I've ever read.

I struggle to understand why anyone accused of a violent offence is not held until trial.

A trial which takes place in days, not years.

I mean given the absolute horlicks the police and CPS managed to make when given years to do their job, it's hard to see how doing it quicker could make it worse.

RIP to all whose deaths could have been prevented in a country that chooses justice over politics.

What was the name of the judge who refused to issue the SOPO?

I am London woman who has also lived elsewhere, and my experience is that the Met is particularly poor.

What frustrates me is that it doesn’t seem to be taken seriously by leadership or politics.

In fact it's often just dismissed as a far right talking point, especially by Sadiq Khan who has an oversight role of the Met.

Keir Starmer has strongly backed Khan’s record, and mentioned crime when he was recently awarded a peerage. It's often based on narrow metrics and ignores the fact women in London say they feel less safe, not more.

Are there any left-wing women’s groups, Labour women’s groups or others pushing for more action on violence against women and girls and better policing accountability?

I'm not party political, but realistically if any groups perceived as right speak out it seems to cement opinion that there isn't an issue here rather than help get support to tackle it.

Same here. I just can't find the words to adequately express my horror.

The Met were shit in the Glory Days of Thatcher. Maybe if it were a party political problem it would be solved by now.

Turns out misogyny and racism are across the board.

Bloody Hell, this is the very definition of a clusterfuck. Two entirely useless Police forces, not communicating with one another.

Those poor, poor women; it's scarcely creditable that they downgraded him and reduced their monitoring of him, with his record. I see that they have blamed two low rankers and moved them sideways.

What about their seniors, who had oversight of them? What were they doing? Why are they not being held responsible? It's scarcely the first time we've heard of low ranked cops, not having proper training and being left to get on with things - with disastrous results.

It's plain that most forces need serious reform, perhaps including sacking whichever officers are involved, including those way up the chain, who show insufficient curiosity about those down the chain.

Just read it. Beggars belief. The response is so bad, time after time, that rather than just cock-ups, the most likely explanation is, they just don't give a shit. How many lives has this man wrecked, whilst police do fuck all?

I can't begin to imagine how the families of those women must feel. It's beyond words how appalling this is.

Levy had already been in prison for two sexual assaults, and Scotland Yard downgraded Levy's risk to women upon his release in 2024, a decision now under investigation by the police watchdog

Women really are disposable. The violently raped woman likely ignored because she was a sex worker and two women he murdered sound as though they might’ve been homeless? So again, women not worth thoroughly investigating. And yet I am still shocked. I shouldn’t be, but I am.

This is just utterly shameful. I want to feel anger towards the lot of them but it's beginning to feel hopeless that women and girls are not protected and nothing will be done. How was his risk level ever downgraded? The met had all his history fgs. We cannot rely on the police or the legal system to keep us safe.

The Met is too busy telling journalists not to harass Cambridge professors to investigate murders.

Sickening. The big question is - how many OTHER Levys are still out there right now for similar reasons, where are they, and are the police going to finally pull their fingers out and start identifying, finding and arresting THEM, before the next similar story appears?

Reading this made my blood boil.

I am sick to death of the disgustingly misogynistic Met Police. They truly are not fit for purpose and haven't been for decades.

This so fucking disgusting and horrific. The Met are an absolute disgrace. There should be no way two individual police officers are responsible for downgrading a sex offenders risk. I would love to read their policies and procedures.

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Times reports that it was the Met who investigated the harassment complaint.

I have been following this on the Crime Desk / The Trial Podcast. Women are treated as disposable, particularly sex workers. It is utterly horrific. It was scary hearing the defence barrister trying to dismiss these horrific murders as drug overdoses. RIP Carmenza and Sheryl.

Weirdly one of the things that really struck me reading this was the fact that it wasn’t only sex workers who were dismissed and left without care or justice, it was the poor bloody prison officer as well. Her assault was caught on camera, they obviously knew who he was, nothing done for 5 years. What hope for any of the rest of us?? How could they possibly justify this?? And then to downgrade his danger level 😭

Yeah that really says it out loud, doesn't it? It's not just sex workers we don't give a shit about.

Wayne Couzens
David Carrick
Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis

Apparently, none of their colleagues challenged them when they expressed misogynistic views, long before they committed their crimes.

How can any woman trust the Met police?

How could they not investigate a known sex offender whose DNA is found on the body of a dead woman found in a derelict building? Absolutely unbelievable, beyond incompetence, just straight up disregard for the lives of women.