Goering chalice returned to owner

The £2m goblet was first removed from the ruins of Goering's home in East Prussia by a soldier, George Armstrong. He left the cup in 1973 to the family of Derick Smith, who used it as a vase.

Mr Smith, 54, from Sunderland, held on to it until 2002, when it fell into the possession of a former girlfriend, who said she had kept it in place of a debt Mr Smith owed her.He allegedly then hatched a plot to retrieve it by kidnapping her dog, Benji.

Mr Smith pleaded guilty to blackmail and was sentenced to jail. After serving four and a half weeks, he battled on for ownership. Two weeks ago, the cup was taken out of a police vault and returned to a triumphant Mr Smith after a court hearing in Newcastle.