How the justice system failed Matt Leveson

Atkins confession about the location of the body was made in exchange for immunity from prosecution for perjury and contempt of court

Copy pictures of Matthew Leveson supplied from the Leveson family

The police have called off the search and parents Mark and Faye Leveson, so hoping for closure, are still left with no idea as to the whereabouts of their son Matt.

After keeping silent for the nine years since his young lover Matt Leveson disappeared, and having been acquitted of his murder, Atkins two weeks ago led police to a dense bushland site where he said he buried Matt.

His confession about the location of the body was made in exchange for immunity from prosecution for perjury and contempt of court after he admitted lying on oath to the resumed inquest into Matt’s disappearance.

Atkins had already been given immunity from prosecution for murder to force him to give evidence at the inquest. But the sad nine-year saga of botched opportunities to get some justice for Matt is not yet over for his parents Mark and Faye Leveson.

What was their latest “one in a million” chance to find their son’s body has ended in more heartbreak. The search of the leech-infested area of the Royal National Park south of Sydney where Atkins claims to have left Matt in a bush grave was called off on Thursday after a week’s digging yielded no trace of his remains.

As the Levesons spent every long day sitting in an SES tent watching every moment of the dig, Atkins, 53, was back in his new home of Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

Having admitted to using Botox and shaving a few years off his age on gay dating websites, Atkins looked happy and relaxed. He works as an electrician.

But with every day that passes without Matt’s remains being found, the former bouncer and ninjutsu black belt could be getting closer to jail. He was left under no misapprehension that if the body is not found, he would be charged with contempt of court and perjury arising out of his evidence to the inquest.

Mark and Faye Leveson, the parents of Matthew Leveson, at the search site in the Royal National Park near Waterfall south of Sydney. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

“It’s just so wrong. Everyone wants Atkins to be brought to justice but his parents just want to bury their little boy,” a legal source said yesterday. “But f... him. No body, no deal.”

It is not known whether Atkins has told police exactly what happened after Matt was last seen alive leaving Sydney’s Arq nightclub with his older lover in the early hours of Sunday, September 23, 2007.

The theories include that Matt may have died from an accidental overdose after using the drug GHB at the nightclub and that Atkins panicked and buried him.

Or, as been suggested in the Coroner’s Court, that Atkins killed him because Matt wanted to leave him for someone younger and nicer.

The only thing that is certain is that the last known contact Matt had with anyone was a text message sent to a friend at 3.30am the day he disappeared.

“He needs to f...en get over himself,’’ he wrote about Atkins.

Atkins evidence, repeated during the inquest at Glebe Coroner’s Court, was that he thought his young lover had taken off for a new life in Thailand. Matt’s passport was found by police in rubbish at the Cronulla flat the couple shared.

The police had exhausted all efforts to get justice for Matt before the inquest was resumed earlier this year.

Michael Atkins told police where to find the body of Matt. Pic: Renee Nowytarger

Four days after Matt went missing, police found his car dumped at Waratah Oval, Sutherland. In the boot was a cash receipt for a mattock and duct tape from Bunnings at Taren Point, timed at noon on the Sunday he was last seen. The receipt had Atkins’ fingerprint on it.

That same day detectives pulled in Atkins for a video-recorded interview. His lack of concern or interest when told about the discovery of the car was noted.

Atkins said he and Matt had gone to bed and slept until 2pm on the Sunday when they got home from the nightclub, and initially denied it was him when police showed the CCTV footage from Bunnings.

He later claimed to have bought the mattock to create a garden at the flat complex, and the duct tape to tie up vegetables as they grew.

Charged with murder, he was acquitted by a majority verdict in 2009. He exercised his right to silence and did not give evidence.

The jury did not hear the full story because the detectives had not told him he was a suspect before they interviewed him.

Large slabs of the interview, including Atkins’ claim to have been asleep at home when he was at Bunnings, were not played in the trial.

Then as a result of the double-jeopardy laws in NSW being overturned — which means someone can face fresh charges after they have been acquitted if fresh and compelling evidence emerges — in mid-2014 police obtained the consent of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to reinvestigate Matt’s death with a view to seeking a retrial for Atkins.

Flowers and tributes left at the site. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

The investigation did not uncover evidence that would satisfy the “fresh and compelling evidence” test.

In December that year, the Leveson family wrote to the State Coroner asking for an inquest with what a judge described as an “eloquent account of the family’s ongoing anguish”.

They appealed for an inquest to “help us find out what happened to our son, our brother”. They said they hoped the inquisitorial nature of an inquest would uncover how Matt died, where, when and who was responsible.

About a year later, Atkins was subpoenaed to give evidence but objected on the grounds of self-incrimination.

With the backing of Matt’s family and police, Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott made the rare decision to grant Atkins a certificate under section 61 of the Coroners Act, which means any evidence he gives (including any admissions he may make) and any evidence obtained as a consequence of his evidence, would not be admissible against him in any further criminal proceedings.

Matt’s parents had come to terms with Atkins’ immunity deal but they wanted to find their son’s body, take him home and give him a proper burial.

On Monday, October 31, Atkins finally made it into a witness box, where by the Friday he had admitted lying on oath.

The Coroner told him to think carefully about his evidence before the inquest resumed. After intense negotiations between police and Atkins’ lawyers, on Monday November 7, homicide detectives approached Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton, who granted Atkins immunity from perjury and contempt of court in return for him telling police where he had buried Matt’s body.

Despite the search being abandoned, police and Matt’s parents pledged they will continue to look.

His parents and two brothers share tattoos of Matt. A tattoo on Mr Leveson’s arm reads: “It’s not a justice system. It’s just a system.”