The whirlwind romance of Rexie, the Glenrothes dinosaur has ended as abruptly and mysteriously as it started.
Locals flocked to see the popular public landmark, which sits on Caskieberran roundabout in the town, after he acquired a female companion on Valentine’s Day.
Rexie’s girlfriend had appeared alongside the 10 foot tall T-Rex sculpture overnight and without warning, causing much speculation as to where it had come from and who was responsible for the prank.
That mystery was later solved when it was revealed that Stella had been kidnapped from its owners garden in Kinghorn by pranksters wanting to play Cupid, by transporting it seven miles to be at Rexie’s side.
Now the six foot model has mysteriously reappeared back in the garden from where it was taken leaving its owners, Liz and JP Easton, scratching their heads at the latest twist in the love affair.
“We were heartbroken when we woke up on Valentine’s Day to find that Stella had disappeared,” said JP, who had created the T-Rex model along with a second dinosaur as the family’s entry into a local community competition in the summer.
“Stella had proved popular with local youngsters who used to visit every day so we thought it had been someone local who had removed her.
“We couldn’t believe it when we saw the photographs of her in Glenrothes with Rexie and realised that someone had gone to all that trouble kidnapping our model for a joke, even adding a bunch of roses in Rexie’s mouth.”
Former Glenrothes town artist, Malcolm Robertson, who created the Rexie in 1980, said he was delighted to hear the sculpture was still bringing joy to the town more than 40 years later.
He added: “Who would have thought that all these years after I made him that he’s still making the news and putting a smile on people’s face.
“As an artist you always endeavour to create a piece that gains favour with the public and Rexie has certainly done that.
“It’s wonderful to hear he’s doing well and his existence is still evolving.”
Liz and JP had planned to collect their model from the roundabout, mainly because it had been built around a piece of garden furniture.
However, they were saved the job after they discovered Stella back in their garden wrapped in silver tinsel.
JP admitted he is yet to find out who is behind the prank bus suspects it may be a work colleague at Fife Council having a laugh at his expense.
“I thought someone would have owed up by now but we are still in the dark,” said JP.
“Following the romance we are wondering if we’ll be soon hearing the sound of little dinosaur feet of Stella and Rexie’s offspring.
“I wouldn’t rule it out given the bizarre nature of the last couple of weeks.”