A JUDGE blasted a “parasite” fraudster as the “lowest of the low” after emptying his dying aunt’s bank account to feed his £200-a-day crack cocaine and heroin addiction.

Nephew Jack Brimble, from Newport, even took out a loan in her name on the day Lynne Johnsey, 55, passed away from a brain tumour to continue the scam.

Prosecutor Tom Roberts told Cardiff Crown Court: “In the summer of 2016, she broke her foot and coincidentally, while in hospital, a brain tumour was diagnosed.

“She slipped into a coma on September 18 and passed away on September 29.”

He said the 26-year-old defendant first began to empty her account when she was ill after he found out her online banking details.

Brimble, of Station Road, Llanwern, would then transfer money to his own bank and withdraw the cash to pay for high purity drugs.

On the day she passed away, he made a successful loan application for £6,500 in her name to continue the ruse.

Mr Roberts said the amount he defrauded Ms Johnsey, who had been a bursar with luxury cruise line Cunard, out of was £7,255.

The court heard Brimble had been jailed twice before. In 2013 he received 26 months for theft and a year later 14 months for a house burglary.

On the day of his trial, the defendant pleaded guilty to one count of fraud.

Karl Williams, mitigating, said his client had been supported throughout his drug addiction by his mother and grandfather who were in court.

He told Judge Philip Harris-Jenkins: “The defendant has been addicted to crack cocaine and heroin since July 2014. His problem is massive – he was spending £200 per day on heroin.”

Mr Williams said that Ms Johnsey had played a “motherly role” in Brimble’s life and had cleared his mother’s overdraft and bought him a car.

He urged the court to impose a suspended sentence and a drug rehabilitation requirement.

But Judge Philip Harris-Jenkins condemned Brimble and told him: “This was a mean offence – you are nothing more than a parasite. You are the lowest of the low.”

He said that after reading his pre-sentence report he came to the conclusion that: “There is a great deal of arrogance running through you. You have a sense of entitlement.”

The judge jailed Brimble for 27 months, the least he said he could impose, and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £140.