Liverpool man caught stocking up on Ricin claims Breaking Bad gave him the idea

A court heard today that a man living in Liverpool attempted to purchase the harmful poison Ricin from the United States, sensationally claiming that his actions were influenced by popular TV series Breaking Bad.

Muhammed Ali, 31, has allegedly been browsing the web from October last year, seeking high volumes of this deadly poison. The court has heard that Mr Ali, who was born in Bolton, is on trial for attempting to possess a "chemical weapon," after an under cover FBI agent in the United States alerted authorities across the pond.

It is understood that Mr Ali had been shopping online for Ricin in January 2015, via the internet's black market. Mr Ali, AKA Weirdos 0000, allegedly placed an order of 500mg of Ricin from what he thought was a genuine provider. However, the jury was told that Mr Ali was negotiating the sale with an FBI agent, who later reported the incident.

Just to put that into perspective, if Mr Ali was to successfully receive the package of 500mg, that would mean that he would be in possession of enough Ricin to kill around 1,400 people.

Prosecutors then stated that Muhammed Ali received a package on February 10th, with what he thought included Ricin. This package was delivered directly to his home in Prescot, Liverpool, which he shares with his wife and two sons.

The package was disguised as a child's toy car, containing five packets of harmless powder as oposed to the Ricin he ordered. Ali was later arrested by the Police.

Dr Alison Beck, a clinical psychologist, claimed that the defendant displayed many symptoms of Asperger's syndrome, arguing that watching Breaking Bad might well have changed Mr Ali's mental state.

She said: "‘I think that so far as I understand it, Mr Ali was motivated with pushing the boundaries of what was possible with the technology.

"The relevance of the Dark Net was to procure ricin and that idea was implanted in his brain having watched the series Breaking Bad."

For those that are not aware, Breaking Bad's main character, Walter White, used Ricin to kill somebody in the final series of the hit show.

We understand that Mr Ali has denied the charge of attempting to possess a chemical weapon between the dates of January 10th and February 12th, and this trial will continue.

[Metro]