Meena Patel (L) and her daughter Kuntal Patel (Picture: Facebook/Whatsapp)

A woman allegedly tried to kill her mother by spiking her soft drink with poison in a murder plot ‘inspired by TV series Breaking Bad’.

Kuntal Patel, 37, was accused of lacing her mother Meena’s Diet Coke with deadly substance Abrin and watching her drink it. She did not die as a result.

The Barclays Bank graphic designer had decided to go through with the plan because her mum had forbidden her from marrying her boyfriend, jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

‘The evidence will show that, in private, Meena Patel – the magistrate who worked in domestic violence and race relations – was not a nice woman at all. But she did not deserve to die’ said prosecutor Jonathan Polnay.




He added: ‘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.’

Patel had allegedly bought the poison from a US site on the dark web and was arrested after an investigation by the FBI.

She already pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to acquire a biological agent or toxin but has denied trying to murder her 60-year-old mother.

The trial continues.