A BLACKMAILER behind a bizarre 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 as a battle over its ownership gets underway.

Prosecutor Tim Gittens told the court that the victim had known the defendant for 10 years and had loaned him around £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 unique chalice as payment of the debt which she deposited in a bank vault.

The following month, the woman was admitted to hospital for an operation and while she was away 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.

Mr Gittens told the court: "He said the dog would be returned when he was given the vase. She in turn indicated all she wanted was the return of the dog and the vase was locked in a bank and could not be obtained until the next day.

"She immediately contacted the police.

"The following morning indicated a more sinister turn or events. They were veiled threats about the dog not being returned if he didn't get the chalice back."

Smith was arrested during an arranged meeting outside the victim's home where the exchange was to take place.

Mr Gittens said that civil proceedings regarding the ownership of the vase will now take place and Smith, as well as any surviving relatives of Goering, will have the right to make a claim for it.

The priceless cup was snatched at the end of World War Two when Sunderland soldier George Armstrong was one of the first British soldiers into Goering's home in East Prussia.

Armstrong wrapped the inscribed goblet, which commemorates the 1936 invasion of the Rhineland, in a blue velvet curtain and packed it into his army backpack.

When he returned to Britain the young soldier hid the treasure in his loft - before it was passed to Smith 27 years ago.

Judge David Hodson told Smith, who has already served four years behind bars for drugs crimes and has offences of dishonesty, violence and making a threat to kill on his record: "You have pleaded guilty to blackmail and that is one for the most serious offences in the criminal calendar.

Smith, of Tuscan Road, Sunderland, admitted blackmail at an earlier hearing.

Attempts have been made to contact Edda Goering, who was living in Munich in the 1990s and may now be living in South Africa.

She is thought to have a good claim to the chalice and may want it to be returned to Germany.

After the hearing, Detective Sergeant Chris Sybenga said: "This was a premeditated, nasty offence.

"The defendant Smith has known full well what kind of psychological effect taking the dog would have.

"The owner is devoted to animals and he knew her weakness."