THE family of a Scot who is missing feared murdered have bought TV advertising slots in an unprecedented bid to get to the truth.
Allan Bryant has not been seen since going missing in November in 2013 when he left Styx nightclub in Glenrothes, Fife, in the early hours of the morning.
His family have paid £3,500 from donations to broadcast an advert 160 times next month.
In what is thought to be a television first, the 30-second ad will be shown on STV during some of the most popular shows such as ‘This Morning’ and ‘Coronation Street’.
It has been funded by donations from people to Allan’s Facebook page and will feature a slideshow of his pictures along with a professional voiceover providing details of his disappearance.
The family themselves will not feature in the advert as they feel it is important that sole focus of the campaign is on Allan.
The advert will also feature on the STV website and on their various catchup services.
Police have been made aware of the campaign but are not otherwise involved.
The family hope that the advert will jog people’s memories and lead to people calling police or crimestoppers with fresh information.
His father, Allan Bryant Senior, hopes that the advert will keep his son in the public eye and alert people who may not even be aware of his son’s story.
He said: “We’re doing it to jog people’s memories and hopefully even for people who might not know about it to hear about his disappearance.
“I didn’t think it would be possible and STV told us they’ve never heard of it being done before so I think it’s a first. It’s on for the full month with 160 adverts on TV, STV player and their website.
“It’s just going to be pictures of Allan with a female voiceover saying that it’s an appeal on behalf of the Bryant family with the crimestoppers number and the police 101 number.”
He continued: “The idea came to me when I was sitting watching TV and saw lots of charity adverts and I thought it would be great to do an ad for Allan.
“Then I went to STV advertising and it just snowballed from there. In total it costs £3540 and hopefully it might set a precedent for other families which is a good thing.
“None of it would have been possible without people’s kind donations. We’ve had thousands raised which has also been used to make posters and buy search equipment for us to carry out our own searches.
“We could never have afforded this by ourselves so I really want to thank everyone who has donated and also the STV advertising team for all their hard work.”
Allan was seen stumbling out of Styx nightclub in the early hours of the morning of November 2, 2013.
In 2015, Allan’s mother, Marie Degan visited a huge drain to search for her son after being told that he had been murdered and dumped there.
Speaking in 2014, Allan Senior openly stated that he believed his son to have been murdered.
He said: ““Without doubt. I believe Allan has been murdered.
“I’ve heard the rumours and some of the things that people have said you just can’t begin to imagine.
“I’ve heard similar stories from about five people but I think that the people who do know things are frightened to go to the police.”
Anyone with information can contact crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or police by calling 101.
