A FRAUDSTER who conned his friend blamed an Indiana Jones-style curse linked to a Nazi chalice looted from Hitler’s henchman Hermann Goering.

Former showjumper Derick Smith, 58, stole hundreds of pounds from childhood friend Lesley Shaw after she took him in as a lodger when his marriage ended.

Smith, who pleaded guilty to fraud, said the 12in silver goblet – nicknamed the Unholy Grail – had been responsible for a series of misfortunes he had suffered since it was passed to him by a family friend 32 years ago.

He had planned to start a business with his friend, using the treasure as a guarantee to the bank, but had changed his mind – a decision that had led to his court appearance.

The chalice was originally looted from Goering’s home in 1945 by Sunderland soldier Private George Armstrong, who left it to Smith when he died. In 2002, Smith was jailed for five months after he pleaded guilty to a blackmail plot over the ownership of the chalice.

On that occasion, he had handed the chalice to a friend as settlement of a £40,000 debt, but then kidnapped her dog and made veiled threats demanding the return of the chalice.

Yesterday, Smith, of Stanley, County Durham, was back at Newcastle Crown Court, where he was fined £200 and ordered to pay £335 compensation after he admitted cashing forged cheques he had torn from the back of Mrs Shaw’s chequebook.

The court heard that the pair had begun a relationship and that Smith had worked as a driver for Mrs Shaw, but she had become suspicious when he went missing with a van.

Sentencing, Judge Richard Lowden said he had committed a “mean crime”.

He said: “You have a record for offences of dishonesty and cheating people. You have to be dealt with for, in effect, swindling your partner in whatever form of relationship that was.”

Speaking after the hearing, Smith said he and Mrs Shaw discussed opening a stables using £200,000 raised against the value of the chalice, which he blamed for poisoning their relationship.

He said: “Every time it seems to raise its head I end up in trouble. One day, I will sell it. I am happy for it to remain locked away in a bank vault until then.”