A Vatican court has found a computer expert guilty of obstruction of justice in the investigation of leaks of sensitive papal documents by Pope Benedict's former butler.

Claudio Sciarpelletti, who received a two-month suspended sentence, had been charged with aiding and abetting Paolo Gabriele, who was last month jailed for 18 months for stealing sensitive papal documents and leaking them to the media. But the court decided he was guilty only of obstruction of justice because he had changed his version of events several times.