A 37-year-old woman is accused of trying to kill her mother in a murder plot inspired by an episode of Breaking Bad. Kuntal Patel allegedly laced her mother's Diet Coke with poison to get back at her after she forbade a marriage. 

Breaking BadThe murder plot appears to have been inspired by Breaking Bad

A court heard that Patel slipped abrin to her "controlling and selfish" mother Meena, 60, after buying the poison from a website using the virtual currency bitcoin. She allegedly watched her mother drink the substance at their home in Stratford, east London, last December. Meena survived, leaving Patel searching for a stronger dose of the poison.

The plot was allegedly to have been inspired partly by an episode of the U.S meth-drama Breaking Bad in which Walter White uses ricin in an attempt to kill his rivals. Abrin is more poisonous then ricin.

More: 'Breaking Bad' is king of the Emmys

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay said: "To the outside world, the Patels must have seemed a highly respectable and happy family." But beneath this veneer lay a tale of discord, bullying and abuse. He said details of the case were "so extreme that if they were the plot of a Hollywood or Bollywood film, you would say they are far-fetched".

"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. She would regularly use foul and abusive language, including highly racist language. She would, on occasions, be violent," he said.

Breaking BadJesse [L] and Walter [R] in 'Breaking Bad'

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

The court heard that Patel met her boyfriend Kakad through the Asian internet dating service, Shaadi.com. Her mother did not approve of the relationship and allegedly locked her daughter in her home, beating her and demanding that she stopped seeing Kakad. In a desperate email to a friend, Patel said: "He is the best man I have ever met. He said he was going to propose to me. 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 any more. I would prefer to be dead. My life is so worthless. She just shouts at me like a bulldog. There is no reason or logic with anything she does, apart from being a psycho bitch. I'm stuck with that miserable f*cker until she dies."

More: Breaking Bad breaks out a scavenger hunt

It was after the email that Patel bought poison for £900 from American Jesse Korff. In messages, she called Korff "Heisenberg" - the nickname of Walter White in Breaking Bad, which Patel said she had been watching. 

After confiscating her computer and iPhone, police discovered that Patel has googled "how to murder using poison", "how to create botulism" and "how to murder someone without getting caught".

The case continues.