A Nazi war trophy once owned by Herman Goering is to be sold to pay off the debts of a blackmailer.

The £2m chalice was previously at the centre of a bizarre blackmail plot hatched by Derick Smith, who wanted to retrieve it from a former friend.

Smith, 52, of Tuscan Road, Sunderland, held a boxer dog named Benji to ransom in a bid to get back the treasure, which was given to him in 1979 by a former soldier who was one of the first to raid Hitler's right hand man's home.

He was jailed for nine months last year after admitting blackmail. Newcastle Crown Court heard how he snatched the dog from its owner's home in Sunderland while she was in hospital.

He then issued "sinister veiled threats" to her to claim back the chalice which she said he had handed over to her as payment for a £40,000 debt.

Following Smith's release from jail, Northumbria Police chief constable Crispian Strachan requested the assistance of a judge to determine who now actually owns it.

Judge Ben Nolan, sitting at Newcastle County Court, said: "If someone had said to me this morning I would be dealing with a case involving Herman Goering, a Nazi chalice and a dog called Benji I would have regarded it as a joke. It is bizarre."

Full story in tomorrow's The Northern Echo.