Police offer Bryant family 'sincere apologies' over crucial CCTV delay

The move comes as the Police Scotland offer its “sincere apologies” to the family for not issuing the original footage early enough in the search for Allan Bryant.

Allan Bryant Snr maintains the a short amount of footage showing his son, 23 years old at the time of his disappearance, was only released, some seven months later, because of a public campaign by the family to do so.

And he has now called on those heading the investigation into his disappearance from Styx nightclub in the town in the early hours of November 3, 2013, to make the rest available.

“I’ve personally seen around 40 minutes of various CCTV footage captured from that evening and can’t for the life of me understand why it has not been made public,” said Mr Bryant Snr.

The father’s complaint regarding, what he has since called a “critical and catastrophic delay” in releasing the CCTV footage, was upheld by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) in 2017.

Following recommendations by the PIRC, Police Scotland has this week written to the family offering its apologies over the incident, saying that the decision to not release the footage was beacuse “of poor quality and through a genuine wish not to cause your family distress.”

Allan Bryant appeared to be drunk in the footage.

But Mr Bryant Snr has hit out at Police Scotland’s explanation for the delay.

He said: “Releasing CCTV in the immediate days after a person goes missing is crucial in jogging peoples memories and getting up-to-date images out there into the public domain whilst things are still fresh in peoples minds,”

“In general it is done par for the course, so why wasn’t it done in my son’s case?”

“Why did it take seven months and a social media campaign to get it released?

“They are trying to tell me that they had “technical complexities” that accounted for several weeks delay.

“They also say they didn’t want to release it as it Allan was “under the influence of alcohol” and they did not want to cause my family distress in releasing this.

“My family were in distress BECAUSE they were not releasing it.

“we know Allan had been drinking, so had just about everyone in the club that night, that’s what young people do.”

Mr Bryant Snr now says Police Scotland must be made to pay for the above failures.

“They must be held accountable for the stress and distress they have caused to myself and my family over the last four years” he said”

“We should not have to fight the police for information and to be treated fairly.”

The apology comes as the family this week start a Glenrothes-wide campaign which includes leaflets being delivered to 20,000 homes and businesses across the area in a continuing effort to keep their loved one’s disappearance in the public eye.