A weight seemed to lift from Mark and Faye Leveson as they finally laid their son to rest after a decade-long campaign.

“Don’t be sad,” Mark Leveson said at his son’s packed funeral.

“We have waited for this day for 10 years.”

The couple was embraced by a sea of family and friends today as they farewelled 20-year-old Matthew who disappeared more than a decade ago in 2007.

LEVESON MEMORIAL SITE VANDALISED

Mark beamed through misty eyes as he embraced the guests filtering into the chapel past the black hearse which held his son — a floral arrangement of yellows, reds and purples sat atop the simple wooden casket. The pain on Faye’s face was as raw as in those early press conferences and court appearances which thrust her family into the public eye under the most tragic circumstances.

The Levesons asked mourners to wear purple, dance if they wanted during the service and to remember Matthew as the life of the party, the family prankster, a keen cook and as the schoolboy who answered a question about what he would take to a desert island with “Midori and a dance party”.

The Levesons had been waiting for the day they could “bring their boy home” since the 20-year-old disappeared in September 2007 after leaving Sydney’s ARQ nightclub with his older lover, Michael Atkins.

Atkins, 55, was charged with Matthew’s murder but acquitted in 2009 after claiming his boyfriend was probably alive and living in Thailand.

The family and friends who packed two chapels at Woronora Cemetery for today’s service had supported the Levesons as they did all they could to get justice for their son, even wearing a wire to secretly record Atkins, and successfully battling for an inquest.

Last year during the inquest Atkins finally led police to the lonely bush grave in the Royal National Park south of Sydney where he buried Matthew’s body on September 24, 2007.

Given an unprecedented immunity from prosecution if he told the truth, Atkins, 55, claimed he had panicked after Matthew died of an accidental drug overdose.

The team of homicide detectives led by Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin who refused to give up on the unsolved homicide were among the funeral crowd.

“How many of you had doubts over the last 10 and a half years that we would be where we are today,” Mr Leveson said.

“We can give our Matty the proper send off he so justly deserved in front of his family and friends.”

Faye Leveson said it had been no surprise when Matthew told them he was gay just before he took his HSC — he had more beauty products and perfume than she did and she once found her missing Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume in his bedroom.

“He was the life of the party,” she said.

“Our prankster, our clown, our cook, sushi and cocktail maker.

Matthew’s brothers Jason and Peter chose not to attend the funeral but to mourn in private.

Matthew’s remains were found beneath a cabbage-tree palm, which the Levesons took back to their Bonnet Bay home and planted it in their backyard.

They held a wake for their son at Club on East in Sunderland, where Atkins once worked as a bouncer. He has since gone into hiding.

National Parks were today investigating who removed the flowers and photographs left as a memorial at Matthew’s burial spot sometime this week.

Faye Leveson smiled as she hugged and welcomed the detectives who worked on the investigation. Ten years of waiting were finally behind her. In the chapel, Matthew’s favourite music was played — gay anthems from Celine Dion to ABBA. Photographs and stories of his childhood and adolescence charted the creation of an artistic young man with a bright smile and warm heart.

Faye blew a kiss as Mark Leveson urged the crowd to smile and be happy they were finally able to “give Matty the proper send off he so justly deserves”.

His “soulmate”, Rachel Sanki, said she was blessed to be a part of his life.

“Matty you were taken from us way too soon, and we have waited a long time to do this,” she said.

“But today we get to lay you to rest. You’re the most amazing best friend I could ever have.” His parents registered a star in his name — Matty’s Piece of Heaven — which will shine down from the southern part of the Southern Cross.

“We hope you’re dancing up a storm with the angels,” Mark Leveson said.