Human remains found in Royal National Park confirmed as Matthew Leveson’s
HUMAN remains found in Sydney bushland have been confirmed to belong to Matthew Leveson, bringing closure to his family after a decade.
NSW
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HUMAN remains found in Sydney bushland have been confirmed to belong to Matthew Leveson, bringing closure to his family after a decade of searching.
Matt’s family took to Facebook this afternoon to confirm that the bones found at Sydney Royal National Park last week had completed DNA testing and belonged to the missing 20-year-old.
“It has now been CONFIRMED by DNA testing that the remains found WERE OF OUR BELOVED MATTY,” the family wrote.
“Our family would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts.
“Especially our family and friends who have stuck by our side unwaveringly throughout our journey of finding our beautiful son, brother, cousin, soulmate, best friend and friend.”
The bones were found on Wednesday on the eighth day of painstaking and meticulous searching in the bushland.
It had been the third attempt to locate Matthew’s body in just six months. Searches in November and January failed to find any trace of him.
Mr Leveson, 20, was last seen leaving ARC nightclub at Darlinghurst in September 2007.
After his disappearance his partner Michael Atkins, 53, was charged with his murder, however a jury found him not guilty.
Last year an inquest into Mr Leveson’s death was stopped after Atkins admitted he had lied while giving evidence — leaving him open to being charged with contempt of court and perjury.
His admissions were used as leverage and a deal was struck which meant Atkins was given indemnity from prosecution if he revealed where Mr Leveson’s body was.
It is understood last week’s search was to be the last one with police hopes of finding Matthew being slim.
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