The officer leading the inquiry into missing Glenrothes man Allan Bryant has said that police have not hit a “dead end”.
Chief Inspector Nicola Shepherd said lines of inquiry are continuing to be followed up on the first anniversary of Allan’s disappearance.
Despite the largest missing person investigation ever undertaken in Fife, no trace of the 24-year-old has been found since he left Styx nightclub in Caskieberran Road a year ago.
On Monday, as Police Scotland released enhanced CCTV footage of Alan’s last known movements, Chief Inspector Shepherd underlined the scale of the task facing her officers.
Asked if the investigation had ground to a halt, she replied: “We’re definitely not at a dead end. We’re pursuing a number of lines that we can’t speak openly about.
“It’s been absolutely massive from day one. I can honestly say that a Fife force would have struggled to take this forward.
“The search has been huge from airborne to water searches. Hundreds of statements have been noted and it’s a major, major inquiry.”
Police are hoping that the nightclub footage will help to jog memories of those who may have seen Allan on November 3 2013.
Although the footage has been released before, it has been enhanced in the hope that it will be shared on social media, a platform which the Bryant family has successfully utilised to publicise the search for their son.
The family also displayed a teddy bear made out of articles of Allan’s clothing, an item they poignantly held on to throughout a press conference at police headquarters in Glenrothes.
It came just hours after a candlelit vigil at Caskieberran Road, the location of Styx where Allan was last seen.
However, Allan’s father, Allan Snr, once again took the opportunity to criticise the earlier police investigation, before stating that he had every faith in the current set-up to establish what has happened to his son.
“The police were a joke since day one,” he said. “But now we have new faces.
“I believe they have to go back and re-evaluate everyone who has made a statement. The answer is there in the police files.”