The year brought its fair share of tragedy, yet it's not all bad news - from earthquakes to shark sightings, these are the most-read stories of 2015.

When Pat Lamb went missing after a night out in Maidstone, his friends and family launched a massive campaign to find him.

The KM Group even produced a video of his last known movements, pieced together from CCTV, but despite the best efforts of search and rescue teams, police and hundreds of volunteers, Pat's body was found at Cuxton Marina on January 12.

Body found in River Medway in search for Pat Lamb

Pat, 28, from Greenhithe, went missing after a night out in Maidstone in December 2014.

His disappearance sparked a huge hunt by his family and girlfriend, with more than 40,000 people joining the Facebook page set up to help find him.

Video - the year's biggest stories - January to April

Bluewater evacuated after suspicious package found

Hundreds of shoppers were caught up in the drama on November 21 after a suspicious package led to a large part of the centre being evacuated.

Shoppers said they heard a bang just before 9pm and they had been told it was a controlled explosion.

The package turned out to be harmless.

Earthquake tremors felt in parts of Kent

Thousands of Kent residents - including some of our reporters - were woken at 3am on May 22 by a minor earthquake, measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale.

Thankfully this latest quake did not cause the damage experienced in Folkestone in 2007, but it got plenty of people out of bed much earlier than they expected, particularly inparts of east Kent.

People described hearing a loud rumbling and shaking that lasted for about five seconds. Others said ornaments fell off shelves, windows rattled and birds were startled.

Shark sighting in Herne Bay panics swimmers

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a shark was spotted in Herne Bay on July 1, causing swimmers to make for the beach in a panic.

To be fair, it probably was safe to get back in the water; although identification was difficult from the blurry photos available, most experts agreed it was probably a large but harmless basking shark.

Oblivious to the panic it had caused, the Herne Bay Shark was sighted again the next day, this time swimming off the coast of Reculver.

Fire in Week Street, Maidstone

One of the most serious fires to hit Kent in several years struck Maidstone on June 8.

The blaze broke out in The Works bookshop in Week Street at around 2am and 90 firefighters tackled it at its height.

Believed to be an arson attack, the trial of the man originally accused dramatically fell apart this month after new evidence came to light, clearing him entirely.

Huge fire threatens to engulf Medway City Trading Estate

A huge fire broke out at a recycling plant on the Medway City Estate on June 7, at one point threatening several buildings nearby.

The estate was sealed off while crews tackled the blaze, with ten fire engines and a ladder truck on the scene.

Police later confirmed they were not treating the fire as suspicious.

Woman tries to snatch child and attacks father in Maidstone

Shoppers witnessed dramatic scenes in Maidstone on July 1 when an intoxicated Alina Korosteliova tried to snatch a child from a man who she punched in the face.

In a statement the victim said: “I had never seen her before, she had no reason to assault me.”

Korosteliova was arrested after an attack in the Broadway at around 6pm, and was convicted of the offences in September.

Police close several roads in Ramsgate after bomb alert

A suspicious package was destroyed in a controlled explosion after homes in Ramsgate were evacuated on November 19.

The suspect item, described as "a box with wires coming out of it" was found by a police officer just after 6pm in Grange Road, which was shut at both ends.

The package - which police later confirmed was a hoax - led to several homes being evacuated.

Artillery shells force railway line to close

Train services ground a halt between Folkestone and Dover on March 18 after two artillery shells were discovered by workmen.

The line was closed for about an hour after the shells - believed to date from the Second World War - were found.

Unusually, it's thought the shells had previously been made safe, have been discovered there before, and subsequently dug up again.

Internet provider leads police to man's perverted pictures of young girls

A pervert with an interest in young girls was caught after his internet service provider tipped off the police.

John Nash’s top search for illegal pictures was ‘pre-teen models’.

When officers raided his home in Chatham they found 50 images in category C, the lower range of seriousness.

When officers searched through his internet browsing history they found 1,115 similar category C images which had been deleted from his hard drive.

Magistrates gave Nash a community order for a year which will involve him carrying out 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for five years and got a five-year sexual offences prevention order.

Look out tomorrow for the year's biggest stories from KMTV, from May to August.