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Police search home of teenager who disappeared 27 years ago

News imagePolice Scotland Side by side images of Kenneth Jones - on the left hand side is a head shot of him smiling and laughing as a teenager, on the right hand side is an artist's rendition of how he might look now Police Scotland
Kenneth vanished in 1998, left, and an artist's impression of what he might look like now

Police investigating the disappearance of a Fife teenager nearly 30 years ago have searched the garden of his former home using ground penetrating radar.

Kenneth Jones was last seen at about 10:30 on 2 November 1998 in the Ancrum Court area of Glenrothes.

Despite an extensive police investigation there have been no further sightings of Mr Jones who was 18 at the time and would now be 46.

Police launched a reinvestigation into his disappearance in 2024 and said they remain committed to finding Kenneth while "keeping an open mind".

Jones is described as white, 6ft 2in tall, with short, dark-brown hair.

When last seen around 22:30, he was wearing a black leather zip-up jacket, black jeans, and yellow and green trainers.

Ronnie McLellan moved into the house where Kenny lived at the time of his disappearance five years ago.

He said he first became aware of the connection with Kenny last summer when detectives arrived at his front door.

Ronnie said that search and a search of a shed in the garden turned up nothing.

News imageRonnie McLellan looking straight at the camera. He is wearing a black hat and a black hoodie. He has a grey beard and a silver chain round his neck.
Ronnie McLellan said officers first visited the house a year ago

He said officers returned on Thursday to carry out a ground penetrating radar (GPR) scan.

It allows police to map under the surface using electromagnetic waves.

Officers were also accompanied by a sniffer dog and a drone.

McLellan said: "They went over the ground with the GPR unit, horizontal and then vertical and then they mapped certain areas. They stuck the drone up, just to get a birds' eye view.

"They had the sniffer dog in. He wasn't in for long, I was observing the sniffer dog. I assumed he would bark if he sensed something, but he didn't find anything."

News imageA general view of the back garden of the house at Ancrum Court. The grass has white writing spray painted on it containing letters and numbers.
Officers used special equipment to map out the garden of the house

McLellan said officers told him it would be "a couple of weeks" before the results of the scan could be obtained.

He said: "I was 95% sure that they didn't find anything, but there is always that 5% chance.

"It's for Kenny and his mum. They could have dug up the whole garden if it would help them. It's about helping them put the boy at peace, his mum at peace."

Det Ch Insp Jonathan Pleasance said: "Officers from Police Scotland's Major Investigation Teams are leading the re-investigation with the assistance of numerous resources, including divisional officers and expert witnesses.

"Our searches at Ancrum Court form part of our investigation as we work to find any new information that could assist our enquiries.

"We remain committed to establishing the full circumstances of what happened to Kenneth and we are keeping an open mind.

"I would appeal to anyone who may have any information, no matter how small it may seem, to come forward.

"It's essential we find out what happened to Kenneth to bring his family some much needed closure."

Anyone with any information should contact police.