Kuntal Patel allegedly laced her mother’s Diet Coke with poison after she refused to allow her to marry her boyfriend.
A Barclays Bank worker tried to poison her mother in a plot inspired by the hit US TV show Breaking Bad, Southwark Crown Court has heard.
Kuntal Patel allegedly laced her mother Meena’s Diet Coke with abrin after she refused 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, who sits on the bench at Thames magistrates’ court.
She allegedly watched Meena, 60, consume the contaminated drink at her 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.
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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 episode 16 of season 5 of Breaking Bad in which someone is killed using the poison ricin.
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 used by 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 though that the FBI were monitoring the website, Black Market Reloaded, after an advert offering ricin appeared.
AP / AMC, Ursula Coyote
"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."
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1uCkFrq
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