Bank Worker Attempted To Kill Mother Using "Breaking Bad" Plot, Court Hears

    Kuntal Patel allegedly laced her mother's Diet Coke with a poison similar to ricin after being forbidden to marry her boyfriend.

    Richard James
    by Richard James

    BuzzFeed News Reporter, UK

    A graphic designer for Barclays bank tried to poison her mother in a plot inspired by the hit US TV show Breaking Bad, Southwark Crown Court heard.

    Handout

    Kuntal Patel allegedly laced her mother’s Diet Coke with abrin after being forbidden to allow her to marry her boyfriend, who lived in America.

    It is claimed the 37-year-old bought the poison from a website based in the US using Bitcoin, the Press Association reported.

    Patel has pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to acquire a biological agent or toxin but denies trying to kill her mother, Meena, who sits on the bench at Thames magistrates’ court.

    She allegedly watched the 60-year-old consume the contaminated drink at home in Stratford, east London, in December 2013. However, nothing happened.

    According to prosecutor Jonathan Polnay, abrin is significantly less toxic if swallowed rather than injected or inhaled, the BBC reported.

    Inspired, in part, by the US television series Breaking Bad, she acquired a deadly toxin called abrin, a close relation to ricin, which you may have heard of. She acquired it over the dark web from a vendor in the USA. She paid using bitcoins, a virtual, electronic currency, and used layer upon layer of encryption to try to cover her tracks.

    The jury was told Patel was inspired by Season 5, Episode 16 of Breaking Bad, in which a character is killed using the poison ricin.

    AP / AMC, Ursula Coyote

    The court heard the graphic designer for Barclays Bank bought abrin, which is more deadly than ricin, from American Jesse Korff for £900, and in one message wrote: “I’ve been watching too much Breaking Bad.”

    She also called Korff “Heisenberg”, a nickname of the lead character in the show, Walter White.

    Jurors were told that when the original poisoning didn’t work, Patel returned online looking for a stronger dose.

    The pair were unaware that the FBI were monitoring the website, Black Market Reloaded, after an advert offering ricin appeared.

    Patel allegedly confessed to her alleged actions during an exchange, PA said.

    "Something had definitely gone wrong somewhere as it is now early Saturday morning and still everything is normal. Yes target drank all of it. I made sure I watched her drink it all," she allegedly wrote in a message.

    "I had to borrow money from friends to get this stuff from you because it's my last option. I can't be with the man I love because my mother doesn't like him. She is a bitter, miserable old woman and has been physically mean to me and my sister.

    "I can only be with him [her boyfriend] if she is out of the way."

    Polnay told the court that Meena “was not a nice woman at all” and regularly used highly racist language and was violent on occasions.

    He said: "She was highly manipulative and controlling - she would seek to control every aspect of her daughters' lives. And worst of all, she forbade Kuntal from marrying the man she loved – Niraj Kaked.

    "Meena Patel was all of those things – manipulative, controlling and selfish. But she did not deserve to die."

    When Meena forbade Kuntal from marrying Niraj, rather than bringing shame on the family by trying to marry without her consent – something which Meena would have done her best to sabotage – Kuntal set out in a calculated and premeditated fashion to murder her own mother.

    Following a series of abusive messages from her mother, and reportedly being locked in her home and beaten, Patel allegedly wrote in an email to a friend: "I'll never forgive her for what she has done to me. She has stolen my future away from me.

    "I couldn't care less about my life anymore. I would prefer to be dead."

    She was arrested in January and told police she had bought the abrin to kill herself but became scared and threw it away.

    The trial continues.