Mark and Faye Leveson marked a sombre milestone on September 23.
It has been 18 years since their son Matt was taken from them.
The couple travelled to the Royal National Park at Waterfall, south of Sydney, where their eldest son’s remains were recovered in 2017 after he went missing 10 years earlier.
“Eighteen years ago today and it seems like yesterday,” Mark, 67, wrote on Facebook alongside a photo of the visit.
“Some say time heals all things. NOT in this case. Missing and thinking of you every day. I can’t say it better than my tattoo. ‘Death leaves a heartache that no one can heal, love leaves a memory that no one can steal.’ Love you mate.”
The Levesons were not alone in marking the day, with family, friends and fellow Australians joining them in their grief – both in person and on social media.
READ MORE: Author calls out palace’s ‘hypocrisy’ over Harry and Meghan
READ MORE: Two Shapes flavours quietly disappear from supermarket shelves
READ MORE: Aussie radio’s night of nights permanently cancelled
They make the trip each year and share these moments on the Facebook page, Justice for Matthew Leveson.
Mark and Faye, 65, spoke with nine.com.au ahead of the milestone, sharing their efforts to keep Matt’s memory alive.
“Having the three granddaughters … that’s a constant reminder of what he’s missing out on, and what they are missing out on,” Faye added.
“Our oldest granddaughter, when she sees a butterfly, she says, ‘Hello, Uncle Matt.’
“People don’t think of those sorts of things, because it has repercussions,” Faye said of losing their son and the decade the family spent searching for answers.
“The boys, they lost their teenage years and their young adult years because of the trial and the inquest and all that, and Mark and I constantly out searching.
“It was hard for them, and we don’t like bringing them into the media because they don’t want to be there and we’ve done our best to keep them out.
“Seeing them with their families and what they’re missing out on as well … having him around to be an uncle or a godfather … he would have showered them with love.”
It was in 2007 that Matt went missing from Oxford Street when he was 20.
He was out with his then-43-year-old partner Michael Atkins, who is believed to be the last person to have seen Matt alive.
Matt was reportedly unhappy in his relationship, and had made plans to travel to London.
Atkins would eventually claim in an interview with NSW detectives he found Matthew dead in the bedroom and panicked, burying him in the national park.
In 2009, after almost five days of deliberations, a NSW Supreme Court jury cleared Atkins of Matthew’s murder. A coronial inquest failed to reveal how Matt died.
His remains weren’t recovered until 2017, when Mark and Faye entered into what they felt was a “deal with the devil”.
Atkins would receive immunity from prosecution in exchange for leading police to Matt’s remains.
A book about Matt’s death, Deal with the Devil by Grace Tobin, chronicles this difficult time.
Atkins led police to the spot at the Royal National Park where Matt’s skeletal remains were located.
His parents laid their son to rest in a colourful funeral service in Sydney on March 9, 2018, a decade after his disappearance.
Had he lived, Matt would now be 38. For his family, the grief continues; Mark describes it as “a looking glass syndrome”.
For a daily dose of greatinsports.com, subscribe to our newsletter here.
“You see everything but you don’t register it sometimes,” he said.
Faye describes it as “a rollercoaster”.
“It only takes a song, a smell, a word, even, and it just brings memories back,” she says.
“What was really hard was when we were moving from Bonnet Bay down to Wilton, I was finding all this stuff from Matty and having to pack it up because I’ve still got a lot of this stuff.
“I couldn’t get rid of them. I had to pack that up, bring it down to Wilton, that was really hard.
“I’ve still got a tub of his clothes. I still had all his clothes from the day [he died], and it felt very hard to let that go.”
With her daughter-in-law’s help, she was able to start to let go of some of these items, but has kept some of his clothing and school tops, which she plans to have made into a quilt.
“I’ve got to get strong enough to give them to somebody to do it. He loved his ties, I’ve got a whole collection of his ties,” she says.
READ MORE: Should you buy an iPhone 17? Everything you need to know
“Then there were gifts that he’d given me along the way, his last Mother’s Day gift to me, all his cards that he’d given.
“I’ve got all the boys’ cards that they’d given me over the years. Even some Mother’s Day presents from way back when, from kindy, I’ve still got those.”
If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Griefline on 1300 845 745.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
