Mothers united in grief for their missing sons

This week marks the agonising third anniversary of the disappearance of Allan Bryant, who hasn’t been seen since he was caught on CCTV leaving Styx nightclub in the early hours of November 3, 2013.

Despite a huge police missing person investigation, the most extensive ever carried out in Fife, Allan, 23 at the time, has yet to be found.

The date of November 3 is also an emotional and agonising one for another Glenrothes family, that of Kenneth Jones, the 18-year-old who has now been missing since he left his home on that same date, 15 years earlier in 1998.

Now, as the difficult and painful anniversary looms, the two mothers, who live just a few streets apart in the Macedonia area of the town, have renewed their appeals for information as to the whereabouts of their loved ones.

“I miss him,” Kenneth’s mother Mary Ann Jones, told the Gazette.

“It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past, I just want him to come home.”

Kenneth is described as white, 6ft 2ins tall, with short dark brown hair.

He was last seen wearing a black blouson style leather jacket with zipped front, black jeans, yellow and green trainers and he was carrying a small black/blue rucksack.

“He has now been missing longer that we were together, but the pain is just the same,” Mary Ann said.

“I still spend every day wanting him home.”

With the passage of time Mary Ann now receives little, if any, contact with the police, but wonders each day if news of her son will reach her.

“As the anniversary draws near I find myself going over the day that he left, wondering if it was something that was said or done, or if there were any signs that we should have picked up. that’s a struggle,” she said.

“I just want to hear that he is alright, that’s all I ask.”

For Marie Degan, Allan Bryant’s mother, her son’s disappearance is still painful and raw.

Despite a huge effort from the family via social media, and a recent prime time television advert to keep her son’s disappearance in the public eye, the family are still at a loss to explain what has happened to Allan after he left the club.

“Someone must have seen Allan that night,” she said.

“Some of his friends were still present at the nightclub when he was last seen.

“We just want anyone that knows anything to come forward, that piece of information, however insignificant it may seem, may be the piece that unlocks us from this torment.

“All it takes is one phone call to the police, us or missing persons.

“My family has suffered this pain for three years, we need this nightmare to end.”

Anyone with any information relating to Allan or Kenneth’s disappearance is urged by both families to contact either Police Scotland on 101, Crimestoppers on 0800-555111 or or Missing People on 116 000.