Crowd backs calls for public inquiry into 1997 murder of GAA official
Mr Brown's family met Irish deputy premier Simon Harris earlier this week as part of their campaign to see a public inquiry heard.
Friday evening saw people travel from across Ireland, including as far away as Co Kerry, to Bellaghy to take part in a Walk For Truth event from St Mary's Church through the town to the home of Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC.
Those in attendance included First Minister Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Fein president Mary-Lou McDonald, SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone and GAA president Jarlath Burns.
Many wore GAA shirts from their home clubs or counties as they showed solidarity with the Brown family.
There was a spontaneous round of applause for Mr Brown's family who led the procession as it reached the town centre.
Mr Brown, 61, the then chairman of the club in the Co Londonderry town, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997.
No-one has ever been convicted of his killing.
Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents.
It had also been alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning.
Appeal Court judges in Belfast affirmed an earlier High Court ruling compelling the Government to hold a public inquiry.
It said the failure to hold such an inquiry was unlawful.
However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn says the case involves a key constitutional principle of who should order public inquiries, the Government or the judiciary.
Addressing the crowd, Mr Burns described the 'absolute barbarism' of the murder of Mr Brown as having 'only been matched by the depravity of what has happened since, when the family have been denied truth and justice and any sort of decency from the British Government'.
He said Mr Brown would have been proud of how his family have campaigned for justice for him.
'We are not going to stop until we get the public inquiry that this family deserves,' Mr Burns said to applause.
Mr Brown's daughter Claire Loughran thanked all those who turned out in support of her family.
'We're honestly overwhelmed by the turnout, it's incredibly touching to see so many people here and it means a great deal to us,' she said.
'It reminds us that although our journey for truth and justice has been long, we are not walking it alone.'
Ms Loughran added: 'We won't stop, not until the truth is heard, not until justice is done and not until every family who suffers in silence knows that they are not forgotten.'
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Constance said: 'I made a pact with the devil.' 10 Constance Marten told police that Victoria had died after she fell asleep while holding her Credit: Central News 10 The arrest came following a 54-day manhunt Credit: Central News In spring 2018, the couple turned up out of the blue at a flat in Llanelli, North Wales, with their first baby and a pram stuffed with more than £10,000 in cash. Landlady Guiseppine Allegri told how Constance paid up front for two flats - one for her, and one for Mark across the road. She told The Sun: 'They came from nowhere one day. She had a baby in the pram. The baby was covered in bags and bags and bags. They were hiding the baby.' Guiseppine told them babies were not allowed but bent the rules for them after Constance insisted 'he's awfully good'. The landlady provided an insight into the couple's relationship, saying of Gordon: 'He was very possessive and controlling of Constance. It was him who spoke all the time. 'I told her to go back to her family. I couldn't see why she was with him. He was so creepy. But she thought Mark was the best thing. 'Constance told me he was an honourable and good man. But she said he had difficulties and had been abused as a child.' She said Gordon never worked during the six months he was in the flat, and Marten paid for everything. Guiseppine added: 'He was very domineering. He was the boss. There was never a smile on him, never an honest smile. He had an angry smile.' The couple left in a rush in a van with two men who said the couple went to Birmingham. Guiseppine said they left around £350 of damage caused by candles and joss sticks, adding: 'I think they were running away.' There is no record of Constance and Gordon in Birmingham but they later ended up in a house in Ley Street in Ilford, East London. Their first child had a bouncy castle in his room, and Constance complained about having to find other ways to get money because she was getting less from the family trust. Neighbours said the couple rarely left the house during daylight and that paranoid Gordon installed a CCTV camera as soon as they arrived. One told The Sun: 'Sometimes we saw them coming and going at night but they were not neighbourly. 'Social services came at times to knock but they didn't open the door. They came again and again.' Constance conceived their second child while at the house but in November 2019, while five weeks pregnant, Constance fell from a window rupturing her spleen after apparently being pushed by Gordon. 10 In 2021 a judge ordered her four children should be adopted, shortly before she fell pregnant with Victoria Credit: Central News 10 The couple would carry Victoria around in a Lidl bag after getting rid of their pram Credit: Central News Gordon initially refused to let paramedics into their home and during later care proceedings, Gordon was blamed for the incident. Constance told police she had fallen while trying to adjust the TV aerial outside the window, but officers found the TV had a blanket over it and was not in use. No further action was taken and Constance tried to discharge herself from the hospital. Constance then took the children to Ireland on her own and tried to find a house to pay in cash to stay in. 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On January 5 2023, days after Victoria's birth, Constance and Gordon were making plans to leave the country. They were driving along the M62 in Manchester when their Peugeot 208 caught fire and they ran, leaving £2,000 cash, her passport, her card and placenta. Constance told the court their plan 'disintegrated' from this point, spiralling into one of Britain's biggest manhunts which ended when Victoria was found dead in a disused allotment shed.
