A NATIONWIDE police search failed to find any sign of missing man Stephen Price, a murder trial jury has heard.

And the court was told by the landlady of Mr Price's local pub, The Oldenburg, that he would never have left his beloved dog, Nipper, behind.

The trial at Exeter Crown Court was told that officers involved in the missing person inquiry trawled through hundreds of Mr Price's medical and benefit records to try to trace him.

Detectives searched 108 pages of Mr Price's medical records and put traces on his National Insurance number if he turned up to claim benefits elsewhere in the country.

But there has been no sign of him since he disappeared in May 2008.

The jury also heard how 47-year-old Mr Price would not have gone anywhere without his faithful pet.

They were told at the start of week three of the trial that Mr Price and his Jack Russell were inseparable.

Katherine Ingham, landlady of The Oldenburg in Winner Street, Paignton, said Mr Price adored the dog and even bought him a duffel coat in the winter.

She said: "He was the talk of the pub. Nipper never left him, if Stephen went to the toilet, Nipper would follow, he was just like his shadow."

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how Nipper returned home alone the night Stephen disappeared on May 2.

Lawless, 42, of Bronshill Road, Torquay, denies murdering the father-of-three after a row about Lawless parking his transit van, which he was living in at the time, outside the flats in Great Western Close, Paignton.

The prosecution claim that Lawless stabbed Price, wrapped his body in a tarpaulin cover and drove off in his van towards Totnes.

Mr Price's body has never been found.

Mr Price's drug worker Karen Geisler said Mr Price was getting his life back on track.

She said there was 'light and life about him' the last time they met on April 28 — five days before he vanished.

Mrs Geisler said he was making plans for a life free of heroin.

She said: "He was looking forward to a different way of life.

"He seemed very positive. He had a light and life about him. There was something very positive coming off him."

The court heard Mr Price had a chaotic childhood and was living rough by the age of 15.

In 2007, he was injecting three £10 bags of heroin a day but had made huge progress by the time of his disappearance.

Mrs Geisler said: "I was very encouraged. I thought that things would get more stable and progressively better for him."