Missing Matt Mystery: Man Charged

Local News, By Christian Taylor, 5th August, 2008

Police are one step closer to finding out what happened to Matthew Leveson, a young Sydney man who went missing on September 23 last year, after a night out with friends at Sydney gay nightclub Arq.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Matt’s 45 year old boyfriend, Michael Peter Atkins, was arrested this morning at his Cronulla home. He faced court today and was charged with Matthew’s murder, despite the fact that the body has not yet been found.

Miranda local area commander Superintendent Mark Hiron told a news conference today that strong circumstantial evidence has led to today’s arrest.

“A whole series of small pieces of information came together to lead us to the conclusion that there is no other reasonable hypothesis,” said Hiron.

Police confirmed that Matthew’s parents hadn’t met Atkins until after their son’s disappearance.

After Matthew went missing his family appealled to the general public for information – there were numerous stories in both the gay and mainstream press and the Oxford Street area was plastered with posters. Profiles were also created on Myspace and Facebook – reading through the comments on those pages is, in a word, crushing.

“My darling, beautiful boy, it is 10 months today since that heartless, soulless monster took you away from your family and friends,” writes his mother, Faye. “You will never be forgotten – you are forever in our hearts… They say time heals – its a lie – it does not. It just gets harder and harder not having you around.”

“Its getting harder for me to read the comments here. Time isn’t making it any easier. I’m still crying alot and I don’t know what else to do,” writes another.

Our sincerest condolences to Matt’s family and friends.

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