A woman who became obsessed with the television drama Breaking Bad has been cleared of trying to kill her mother by slipping deadly poison bought over the internet into her Diet Coke.
Kuntal Patel, 37, is was on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of attempted murder after allegedly lacing Meena Patel’s Diet Coke with abrin in December 2014.
Kuntal Patel acquitted of trying to poison controlling mother, Meena, but faces jail for buying the deadly substance
Her mother survived the attack in part because the toxin was ingested rather than inhaled or injected, making it 1,000 times less powerful.
A jury convicted her of obtaining the deadly toxin, Abrin, but took just three hours to clear her of attempted murder.
Patel had claimed she obtained the poison to commit suicide but threw it away, although she admitted trying to buy a second dose.
The case centred on the strained relationship between Patel and her mother. The court heard how Mrs Patel was “manipulative and controlling” who verbally and allegedly physically attacked her daughter.
The prosecution described her as “not a nice woman at all” who used abusive and “highly racist language” while the defence said she was “cruelty personified” and the “the tyrant queen of Park Road”, where the family lived.
Patel was accused of spiking her mother’s drink with the Abrin after she had forbidden her from marrying Mr Kakad, who she allegedly called a “black ugly fatso elephant” and a “mother f*****”, after the defendant met US resident Niraj Kakad on an Asian dating website.
It was alleged that Ms Patel dreamed up a murder plot after becoming “addicted” to the American TV series Breaking Bad and watching an episode in which Walter White kills an enemy with ricin-laced tea.
She admitted to fantasising about killing her mother and bought the poison from Jesse Korff – who claimed his products would cause a “horrible death” – but was cleared of attempted murder by a jury after three hours of deliberations.
Patel had arranged with Korff to send the poison, which was hidden inside a candle, to her friend Julie Wong in Streatham, south east London.
She had told Miss Wong it was a present from her boyfriend and she did not want her mother to know.
However, when the deliveryman turned up, no one was at home and Mr Sutcliffe, being a good neighbour, agreed to sign for it before passing it on to Miss Wong later. Miss Wong also had no idea what the parcel truly contained.
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