Killer pleads not guilty to Belmarsh guard attack

Double murderer and rapist Simon Levy has pleaded not guilty to attacking a guard at Belmarsh prison.

The 41-year-old serial sex offender, who is serving a whole life sentence for murdering two women and raping a third, has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intentional suffocation at the maximum security prison.

On Monday, Levy denied both charges at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

The alleged attack on the prison guard happened on 18 February when Levy was in custody awaiting trial for double murder, rape and multiple sexual assaults.

Prosecutor David Burns told the court Levy was finishing a meeting with Belmarsh guard Paul Dunne when he "attacked him with a pen, stabbing him multiple times to the arm and neck".

Burns said Dunne fell to the floor and Levy "grabbed the officer around the throat" before allegedly tightening his grip.

Levy's lawyer, Jason Lartey, told the court Levy denies assaulting the officer or grabbing him around the throat.

The case has been sent to Inner London Crown Court for trial, with a hearing set for 14 September.

Last week, Levy was jailed for the murders of Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in March 2025 and 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins five months later.

In January 2025, he raped a third woman in the same Tottenham car park where Wilkins was later found dead.

Before these attacks, he had been jailed for committing several sexual assaults.