Son of convict found dead

Gary Marno junior was found dead at a house in the Whitehill area of Bangor last Tuesday. Police said the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of the 25-year-old were not suspicious.

His funeral was on Saturday and his father Gary Marno senior was granted compassionate release for six hours to attend the service.

Gary ‘Mammy’s Boy’ Marno, from Clonmeen in Craigavon, had been on the run for 15 years.

Marno had pleaded guilty to the burglary of a warehouse in Duncrue Road in Belfast in November 1995 and the attempted theft of £80,000 worth of coffee and confectionary.

The 46-year-old did not turn up for sentencing and had been living in Spain since 1996. 15 years later Marno was extradited and brought before a court in Belfast where he was handed a prison sentence at Maghaberry.

Marno was previously jailed in 1988 for being a member of a UDA extortion gang which was exposed by The Cook Report, an investigative TV programme.

On Saturday he was granted bail from 10am until 4pm with Belfast Crown Court Judge Tom Burgess ordering one surety of £2,500 in cash to be lodged and another surety of £10,000 to be put up.

Marno was released with the stipulation that he was banned from drinking alcohol and had to remain in the company of at least one surety at all times.