National exposure may bring comfort

The disappearance of Glenrothes man Allan Bryant Jr is one of the longest running and most perplexing missing person cases of recent years. The young man’s family have endured years of torment, with precious few clues as to his whereabouts ever having been verified.

There has been no shortage of rumour and often cruel conjecture, but sadly an absence of any firm or meaningful leads.

While the case has rarely been out of the headlines, it can only be hoped that an airing on national television at last offers a realistic chance of genuine progress.

The death of a loved one is hard to bear, but can bring with it a sense of closure – so important to the grieving process.

However, when a close relative goes missing those left behind are cruelly robbed of any such dubious benefit.

They are left frozen in time, unable to move on, often clinging on to hope while realistic enough to fear the worst.

To all intents and purposes it becomes no more than a life lived in limbo.

With every passing month there must be new fears that the truth will never be fully revealed – yet all is not lost.

Despite the passage of time there must still be people in the community who know what has happened to Allan Jr.

It is to be hoped this fresh appeal reaches them in a way that all previous attempts have failed.