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A real-life Breaking Bad dad set up a cannabis factory to support his family after losing his home and livelihood following a cancer operation.

Shane Cousins, 40, was hoping to copy US crime drama chemistry teacher Walter White, who builds a crystal meth empire after he is diagnosed with cancer.

Only the dad-of-three, who had been forced to leave the car-valeting business he part owned when the seven-hour operation to remove a golf-ball sized lump in his neck left him unable to work, did not have a clue about cannabis .

The former glass factory worker, who lives in the small former coal-mining town of Ystradgynlais in South Wales, didn’t even know how he was going to sell his crop.

“I didn’t even know whether it was ready,” he told Wales Online .

“It was not something I had ever done before. I was going on the net to see when it was ready and I was just playing it by ear.”

He added: “I don’t like the stuff. I’ve never smoked. I don’t smoke fags or anything. Apparently that went against me in court. If I smoked it I could have said it was for personal use.”

Shane was shopped by a friend who rang the police in front of him after an argument.

He was forced to plead guilty in Brecon Magistrates’ Court last week - and faces sentence on October 10.

Describing how he felt when his friend called the cops, Shane said: “I thought I had had it because I couldn’t do anything.

“I was stuck. I was nearly sick.”

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Shane’s debt had spiralled to £50,000 by the time he started his drugs venture - and he hoped to make thousands from it.

His life had fallen apart after his operation, which left him unable to work.

And although turned out to be benign, he had to have an operation lasting more than seven hours to remove it.

By 2008 he had lost his home in Seven Sisters in Neath Port Talbot and later moved to Abercraf, near Ystradgynlais.

He had only initially been to the doctors to get medication for his sinuses, when the doctor flagged up the lump on his neck.

Shane grew his cannabis from seeds he bought over the internet.

He said: “I paid £50 for the tents and the lights were about £50 each.

“It cost me about £250 in total. I borrowed that off a mate. It must have been going on for about three or four months.

“There must have been about three or four weeks until they were ready.”

The former glass factory worker was also inspired by Channel 5 cop show Police Interceptors.

When officers raided his home, they were overwhelmed by the smell, and found a total of 23 plants in the bedroom, attic and in Shane’s car.

His wife, Julie, was terrified after hearing what had happened.

“We have been together for 16 years,” Shane said.

“She was in bits because she was in work at the time it happened. She said, ‘Oh my God, we could lose the kids!’”

He had no idea why his friend called the police.

“I don’t why he did it,” Shane said. “It was spur of the moment and he was sorry after.”

Shane added that he is “dreading going down” and that he does not know how he would cope without seeing his family.

He also insisted his criminal career was over saying: “I would never do this again.”

He concluded people are “pushed into doing things like this if they cannot get the second or third job they go for”.

“Or if they have got to take two or three jobs to survive and they have got debt collectors on the door,” Shane said.