Two men involved in the theft of a rare and valuable religious artefact from the Catharijne convent museum in Utrecht have been jailed for 27 and 20 months.

Rudolf T and Marco K were found guilty of stealing part of the monstrance – an ornate medieval vessel used in Catholic churches to display communion wafers – in a daring daylight raid in January.

A third man, Fadil K, was found not guilty but jailed for six months, five suspended, for handling stolen goods.

The sentences are well below the five years demanded by the public prosecution department.

The value of the monstrance, which was on loan at the convent for a special exhibition, is put at €250,000. One piece has never been recovered.