Divers from Kent Search and Rescue are due to resume their trawl of the River Medway at Maidstone today in the search for missing Pat Lamb.

But with three searches of the river already completed, they are holding out little hope of making any fresh discoveries.

A spokesman said: “We have already covered the sections around Maidstone pretty thoroughly, we really need some new intelligence to suggest where to look.”

Meanwhile friends and family of 28-year-old Mr Lamb, who went missing after a night out drinking with friends 19 days ago, are continuing their own search.

Eleven volunteers were in Maidstone town centre early on New Year’s Eve, retracing Mr Lamb’s steps and speaking to bar staff and revellers at Bar Chocolate and Strawberry Moons in the hoping of gaining further information about his fate.

They also scoured the area along Fairmeadow where the last known sighting of Mr Lamb was caught on CCTV at about 12.20am on the morning of Saturday, December 13.

One friend said: “We were not just looking for Pat, but for his phone or his wallet, anything that might shed any light on what happened.”

They also handed out hundreds of leaflets.

Mr Lamb is 5ft 7in and was dressed in a black Superdry coat and T-shirt and black winkle-picker shoes when he disappeared.

The broadcast engineer from Greenhithe is believed to have hit his head earlier in the evening and suffered an injury.