Open finding on Matt’s death
MARTIAL arts expert Michael Atkins has got off scot-free after the death of his young lover Matthew Leveson in 2007.
NSW Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott said yesterday that she had no option than to hand down an open finding.
Mark and Faye Leveson, who the inquest was told believed Atkins murdered their son, were emotional as the coroner said it had been her privilege to “be Matt’s coroner”.
She recommended Mr and Mrs Leveson receive a commendation from the police for the assistance they had given, never resting in their fight for justice.
Atkins, who was acquitted of 21-year-old Matthew’s murder in 2009, earlier this year led police to the spot in the Royal National Park south of Sydney where he buried the man’s body.
The disclosure followed an agreement he would not be prosecuted for lying to the inquest if he revealed the location of the body.
Matthew was last seen alive with Atkins in the early hours of the morning of September 23, 2007.
Part of Atkins’ defence at his trial was Matthew could still be alive. Atkins denied through his lawyer at the trial that Matthew could have died of an overdose.
But he told police this year he had buried Matthew after the young man died of an accidental drug overdose.
Ms Truscott said in her findings: “The lies that Mr Atkins told during the course of his evidence to the inquest, as with other lies he had told to a range of people including the police since Matt’s disappearance, give rise to a considerable degree of suspicion that Mr Atkins had some connection with Matt’s death apart from the fact that he buried Matt’s body.
“However, it does not follow from that degree of suspicion that I can find that Mr Atkins was involved in any acts which were causative of Matt’s death.”
Atkins sold his Brisbane unit during the inquest and went into hiding. He did not attend court yesterday.
After the findings were handed down, Matthew’s parents said they wished they could see justice served for their son but they had the main thing they wanted from an inquest into his 2007 death: to bring him home.
“Our son was the most precious thing to us and to his brothers, why would we worry about Atkins?” Mrs Leveson said.