The remains of 36 people found in Kent over the years are yet to be identified.

The figures, released as part of national report into missing people, reveal 31 bodies and five sets of 'partial remains' discovered in the county were unidentified as of 31 March 2020.

One unidentified living person has also been found in the county, further details are not known of the case which echoes that of 'Piano Man', who was found wandering Sheppey in 2005.

The majority of cases date to before 2015 and it's likely the details of most will have been a mystery for many years.

At least two bodies and four sets of remains have been discovered since then.

In 2019/20 the body of a man was found and remains unidentified while in 2017 Gareth Morgan discovered a man lying on his back in a field with his arms crossed across his chest.

To this day it is not known who he was. He had died of natural causes or hypothermia and had only a book of clinical theology, black travel case and oyster card in his possession.

Based on figures previously released by the police at least seven of those 36 were murdered and are included in a list of 55 unsolved cases.

Details of 27 unnamed bodies found in the county between 1971 and 2017 have been posted on the UK Missing Persons website which is run by the National Crime Agency.

They include a diver, two fisherman thought to be French, a man found at the bottom of a viaduct in Folkestone in 2007 and a woman found at the bottom of Dover's white cliffs in 2000.

In her case lipstick, an Oxford tourist information guide, a handbag with the name Christina May inside it, a purse and half a bottle of vodka were found on her person.

In neighbouring London, the Met is trying to identify 298 bodies and 26 living people, by far the largest figure for a single force.

Across the UK there are 56 living people who have been found by police but remain unidentified - this can include individuals rescued from modern day slavery - and 918 unnamed bodies.

The report also reveals in-depth data about missing person investigations in Kent, including the fact as of 31 March 2020 there were 132 adults and 69 children considered 'long-term missing individuals'.

In total in 2019/20 Kent Police dealt with 11,983 missing reports (the fourth most in the UK) relating to 5,177 individuals, many of whom went missing on several occasions.

In that period 2,391 children went missing 8,269 times and 2,786 adults went missing 3,714 times.

Of the almost 12,000 reports 267 resulted in a child being harmed and 261 saw an adult come to harm - 50 children and 11 adults were sexually abused while missing.

Tragically, two children and 29 adults died while missing in 2019/20.

While that represents just 0.6% of all missing people in the county it is a 29% year-on-year increase.

Just over half of those reported missing last year were found within eight hours and almost 98% within a week, but 11 children and 22 adults were missing for more than 28 days.

In total 38% of missing children and a quarter of adults returned home of their own free will.

The figure of missing reports five years ago was 9,475 and has steadily increased each year since but the number going missing has stayed broadly consistent.

Men were 10% more likely to go missing than women in the county.

Nationally, the leading cause of people going missing in 2019/20 was a relationship, with mental health issues and drug and alcohol abuse contributing heavily.

Gang crime and county lines drug dealing were factors in 3% of all missing people investigations.

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