Charges have been dropped against a Christchurch man for stealing a laptop from a missing man.

46-year-old Dion Louvain Lawrence allegedly stole a computer valued about $1000 from the home of Richard Hinkley, in the days after reports he’d disappeared.

He's now been missing for two years.

Today at the Christchurch District Court, a police prosecutor said the charge was laid believing there would be circumstantial evidence to prove it, but there wasn't.

They said there would only be a strong case to answer to if the complainant resurfaces.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll dismissing the charge, ruling there was no evidence to proceed.