A BLACKMAILER behind a plot involving a stolen Nazi chalice which once belonged to Hitler's henchman Herman Goering has been jailed for nine months.

Derick Smith, 51, held a boxer dog named Benji ransom in a bid to get back the £2m solid silver chalice which was taken from the Luftwaffe leader's lair in Germany at the end of the Second World War.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how he snatched the dog from its owner's home in Sunderland while she was in hospital, then issued "sinister veiled threats" to make her hand over the chalice.

It now looks likely that Goering's elderly daughter, Edda, will be invited to fly to England to stake her claim to the family heirloom.

Tim Gittens, prosecuting, said that the victim had known the defendant for ten years and had loaned him about £40,000 for failed business ventures.

Despite repeated promises from Smith that he would repay the money, they fell out. In May 2001, Smith visited the woman and offered her the chalice as payment of the debt which she deposited in a bank vault.

The following month when the woman was in hospital, Smith took Benji - then made a number of phone calls saying he had the dog but could not vouch for his safety unless the chalice was returned.

The woman told the police and Smith was arrested.

Mr Gittens said civil proceedings regarding the vase's ownership would now take place and Smith, as well as any surviving relatives of Goering, will be able to make a claim for it.

Judge David Hodson told Smith: "You have pleaded guilty to blackmail and that is one for the most serious offences in the criminal calendar."

Smith, of Tuscan Road, Sunderland, who admitted blackmail at an earlier hearing, has already served time for drug crimes and has offences of dishonesty and violence on his record.