Robert Sammut, 46, who is resident in Ontario, has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for extorting $90,000 from a local priest, the CatholicCulture.org reported.

He told the priest that he would lodge a false accusation of abuse if the priest did not pay.

"In order to compel the priest's generosity, he threatened the priest to come forward with false charges," said Judge Joseph Nadel.

"Given the glut of fallen priests who have fallen prey to these venal acts, this priest feared he would be painted with their brush."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.