Authorities at the famous Santiago de Compostela cathedral must be ruing the trust they put in their handyman who repaid them by stealing €2.4 million from collection boxes.
José Manuel Fernández Castiñeiras also made off in 2011 with a priceless medieval book, the Codex Calixtinus, from an unlocked safe in the cathedral.
The electrician worked at Spain’s holiest cathedral for almost 30 years and was on friendly terms with its clergy.
But his diary revealed a tale of skulduggery
On 5 January 2005 he wrote: “Go to cathedral, take 2,910 euros and 114 dollars, update my account books, go out and have two coffees, return to the cathedral, back to a café, chat with a priest, take a siesta, feed the animals, pick up wife from work, and do an electrical repair job.” noting: “Tomorrow is Epiphany.”
Castiñeiras was arrested in 2012 after police found the 12th-century manuscript in a plastic bag in his garage. Police also uncovered a large number of banknotes and 36 volumes of his diaries which recorded the astronomical amount of money he was stealing.
Last week a court in Galicia sentenced him to 10 years in prison for theft and money laundering.
Castiñeiras worked there as a self-employed electrician. He befriended José María Díaz, who was responsible for the archive before becoming cathedral dean in 2006.
Castiñeiras asked him for a permanent contract but instead was made redundant. He tried to take the cathedral to court, all the while returning to pilfer money and daringly to take the Codex.
Subsequently, Mr Díaz was forced to resign because of the lax security to protect the Codex.
For her part in concealing the crimes, his wife was given six months in jail. Of all the money Castiñeiras stole, the court demanded that he return only €270,000, which was the amount he had used to buy two flats.
