Older lover will not give evidence at Matt Leveson inquest

‘Morally bankrupt’ liar Michael Atkins will not have to give further evidence at the inquest into his young lover Matthew Leveson’s death, a coroner ruled on Friday.

The 54-year-old could have led police to Matthew body almost a decade ago but chose to let his boyfriend’s family suffer while he hid behind a web of lies.

Atkins did not call an ambulance, attempt CPR or alert police when he found his young lover dead from what he now claims was a drug overdose in their apartment at Cronulla, south of Sydney.

Instead, he bought a mattock and duct tape from a Bunnings store, came home to watch television and planned how best to dispose of his boyfriend’s corpse.

Michael Atkins (left) with his younger lover Matthew Leveson, whose body was found this year

Michael Atkins drew an eerie diagram revealing the exact spot he buried his younger lover’s body

A sketch by Michael Atkins of where he found Matthew Leveson’s body in their apartment the morning after a night out at Darlinghurst’s ARQ nightclub

The 54-year-old (left) was acquitted of murdering his 20-year-old boyfriend Matthew Leveson (right) in 2009

Police with Faye and Mark Leveson (right) near where Matthew Leveson’s remains were found

Before Atkins dumped the body of the young man he said was the love of his life in a lonely bush grave, he took time to book two tickets for the next weekend’s Sleaze Ball.

Three days after Matthew’s death, Atkins drove to Newcastle where he had sex with a man he had met on the internet.

The martial arts expert’s latest version of how Matthew died and how he disposed of his body is contained in a statement tendered at a coronial inquest which resumed this week at Glebe.

Atkins, who previously claimed Matthew could have voluntarily disappeared and taken himself off to Thailand, also drew sketches of where he found the young man’s body and where he buried him.

The electrician has not been in court this week but the hearings have been held in a court room above the morgue where Matthew’s remains are being held.

It took Atkins almost a decade to lead detectives to Matthew’s burial site in bushland within the Royal National Park, south of Sydney.

Electrician Michael Atkins is unlikely to face charges over the death of Matthew Leveson

Mark and Faye Leveson, the parents of Matthew Leveson, stand together in bushland in the Royal National Park south of Sydney in May

NSW Police forensics officers sift through dirt after human remains were found in bushland in the Royal National Park south of Sydney in June

In the meantime he continued pursuing younger men for sex romps while Matthew’s parents Mark and Faye searched for their son’s body.

Police were hours away from calling off their third major search for Matthew’s remains when an excavator uncovered bones on May 31 this year.

The lead investigator into Matthew’s death, Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin this week described Atkins as ‘morally bankrupt’.

Atkins was acquitted of murder and manslaughter by a jury in 2009 and has since been granted a series of immunities from further prosecution.

He left Sydney’s inner-city ARQ nightclub with Matthew in the early hours of September 23, 2007. The pair had been taking drugs that night.

It took Atkins almost a decade to lead detectives to Leveson’s (pictured) shallow burial site, tucked away in dense bushland in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney

NSW Police continue their search for human remains in bushland in June

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin has led the investigation into Mathew Leveson’s death

Matthew was never seen alive again and Atkins spent the next nine years telling lies.

Now the electrician has given police one last version of what led to Matthew’s death and how he buried him in a statement that can never be verified.

Atkins now says he woke on a couch after the pair’s night out to find Matthew dead next to the bed in their main bedroom.

‘I went into the bedroom and saw that Matt was lying on the ground with his eyes open and he was not breathing and he had a funny colour and he was dead,’ Atkins told police.

‘I did not know what to do and I just sat there with him. Later when I was lying next to him I told him that I loved him. ‘

Atkins said he found an empty bottle of the drug GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy, which the couple each occasionally used and sold.

Faye and Mark Leveson outside Glebe Coroner’s Court at the inquest into their son’s death

Mark and Faye Leveson, (left) the parents of Matthew Leveson (pictured in frame centre) with Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin

Despite being trained in first aid he did not check for vital signs, call an ambulance or perform CPR. Instead, he panicked and thought how to protect himself.

‘I was freaking out,’ Atkins told police. ‘I thought I would get blamed and I thought about the drugs.’

Atkins drove Matthew’s blue Corolla to the nearest Bunnings and bought supplies to bury his body.

Having wrapped Matthew in a blanket he watched television and used his computer. Sometime after midnight he put Matthew’s body in the boot of his Corolla and drove to the Royal National Park.

Atkins sketched a map of where he buried the body. That diagram, signed by him and dated November 9 last year, eventually led police to Matthew’s grave.

Floral tributes near where police found the remains of Matthew Leveson south of Sydney

Faye Leveson reacts as she speaks to the media with her husband Mark after attending the first day of the Coronial Inquest for their son Matthew Leveson at the Coroners Court in Sydney

Police initially could not find the grave. They had Atkins hypnotised and let him drive around the area in Matthew’s car in attempts to jog his memory.

On the map he indicated the grave was 15 to 20 metres from where he parked the car after a 3 to 4 kilometre drive from Waterfall train station down a narrow, sealed road.

He dug an 80 centimetre deep hole roughly 2 metres long by 1 metre wide and buried the man he said he loved. Then he started telling lies which he kept telling until November last year.

The gym junkie’s latest story cannot be proven, Matthew’s inquest heard this week.

Atkins claims he hid the truth out of fear. He has told police his mother did not know he was gay and he felt ashamed and embarrassed he had not looked after his younger boyfriend.

‘He was concerned about what people might think,’ Detective Chief Inspector Jubelin told the inquest.

Pamela Atkins, mother of Michael Atkins, pictured at her home south of Sydney on Thursday

Electrician and gym junkie Michael Atkins said his mother Pamela did not know he was gay

Michael Atkins’s mother Pamela said her family had told her not to talk publicly about her son

At her home on Thursday, Atkins’s elderly mother Pamela did not wish to discuss her son’s behaviour.

Asked if she was upset by everything that had happened, she said: ‘Of course… My family said not to say anything.’

She would not say whether she had known her son was gay before Matthew’s death.

Atkins gave evidence at Matthew’s coronial inquest last year after being guaranteed he could not be prosecuted for offences other than perjury and contempt of court charges if he lied under oath.

When he was caught lying he was given another deal that he would not be prosecuted if he led police to Matthew’s remains.

Detective Chief Inspector Jubelin said the decisions to make those deals had not been taken lightly and that his thinking had been that ‘the investigation had been taken as far as it could be taken’.