DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Soft justice madness leaves us all less safe

Published: 23:59, 7 August 2026 | Updated: 01:24, 8 August 2026 The deep and dangerous malaise in criminal justice just gets worse. Bad enough that the Government sees fit to give early release to killers, domestic abusers and other violent criminals. Now comes the appalling case of a known sexual predator who was allowed to continue his grotesque campaign of terror against women because of the dithering and serial incompetence of the police, courts and CPS. As a result of their failings, two women are dead and a third has been left traumatised. There were so many chances to stop Simon Levy it's hard to know where to start. He was jailed for two sex attacks in September 2021. While in Brixton prison, he sexually assaulted a female guard yet was still freed after half his three-year sentence. While on licence he attacked a woman at Canada Water station, the first of a string of assaults on the London Underground. British Transport Police arrested him in November 2024, but he was given bail. Three months later his bail was extended and on the same night he raped, beat and suffocated a sex worker, leaving her for dead. She reported it but no action was taken. Levy carried on his Tube station attacks while on bail and even when he failed twice to show up at court no warrant was issued for his re-arrest. On March 17 last year, the inevitable happened. He murdered Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in a partially disused tower block and five months later Sheryl Wilkins in a Tottenham car park. Serial sex attacker Simon Levy, 40, was found guilty on Friday of murdering two women and raping a third Levy murdered Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo (pictured in the street holding a flower) on March 17 last year in a disused tower block while on bail for a string of previous assaults  Five months later Levy killed Sheryl Wilkins (pictured), whose body was found in a car park off Tottenham High Road in London  The CPS non-apology apology is instructive. While accepting their actions 'fell short of the standards the public are entitled to expect', the chief prosecutor added: 'We cannot know what decisions the courts would have made had different representations been advanced.' In other words, even if the CPS had strongly opposed bail, it may well have been granted anyway. Levy was known to be a clear and present danger to women. Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth described him as a 'prolific, predatory monster'. In what universe should such a man not have been remanded in custody? Policing and the administration of justice in the 21st century are, of course, complex but some fundamentals never change. If public trust in the system is to be maintained, those who commit crimes – especially the most serious and violent offences – must be seen to receive appropriate punishment. By failing for so long to put Levy behind bars, the police and CPS breached that trust and made the streets less safe for law-abiding people. Meanwhile, the early release scheme begun under Sir Keir Starmer and now championed by Andy Burnham is compounding this loss of faith. Public outrage has recently focused on Mr Burnham's failure to block the impending release of Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, two of the killers of PC Andrew Harper. But terrible as that decision is, there is a much broader issue at play. Since the scheme began in September 2024, 70,000 criminals have been freed. Over the same period, re-offending rates have rocketed by nearly 30 per cent. It is surely no coincidence. With the deterrent of long sentences so severely weakened, career criminals have become emboldened and are laughing at the law. Mr Burnham claims prisons are so overcrowded that the justice system would collapse without these early releases. Many will think it is collapsing because of them.