A blackmailer who drove a Roman Catholic cleric to quit the priesthood in a bogus child porn photo scam was jailed for five years today.
The jury at Swansea Crown Court took just 46 minutes to find Michael Costello, 38, of Sherwood Street, Reading, guilty at the end of a four-day trial.
The judge said he was jailed for the 'colossal damage' he had inflicted on Father Michael Manning, who remains so marked by his experience he has quit his vocation and shows no sign of returning.
The court heard that Costello targeted Father Michael when he was based at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Llanelli, south Wales, in February.
He claimed to be destitute, and the priest gave him £100 of his own money.
But Costello then took advantage of the priest's brief absence to collect the money and stole his Blackberry mobile phone.
He then claimed it contained indecent images of children and threatened 'to go to the tabloids' with the groundless claims.
Fearful of the outcome despite being innocent, Father Michael paid out almost £300 to Costello on two separate occasions.
Prosecutor Patrick Griffiths told the trial jury that the priest had felt 'vulnerable' at the time.
The blackmail happened when there was already widespread concern at the Roman Catholic Church's handling of actual cases of sexual abuse of young people.
When Costello came back for more cash, Father Michael travelled to Kent to inform his superiors, and has never returned to his church.
The move followed a another attack by Costello when he broke into the Father's property and made lewd remarks about the priest's relationship with another cleric.
Costello then made further blackmail attempts, but found that Father Michael had been replaced.
The new vicar then traced Costello's phone by using the 1471 call-back facility and passed on the information to the police.
Costello was found guilty today of blackmail over afive-week period from March 7 this year.
He was also found guilty of theft of a Blackberry and was also sentenced for two burglaries he carried out in Fishguard when he returned there from Ireland by ferry.
Judge Huw Davies, passing sentence, told Costello: 'The measure of this offence is not to be found in the money, it is in the damage to the man.
'The damage you caused this man is colossal. In the process you have caused damage to the community he served.'
He said that Father Michael was known as a priest who put other people's needs before his own and that Costello's claims had been 'wholly untrue' in their nature. He had 'sized up' the priest as a 'soft touch'.
The judge added: 'He was a shy man, tired from overwork and, at that time in his life, did not have the wherewithal to confront you.'
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