Breaking Bad-type drugs lab killed man after spillage in Leeds garden outhouse

An ambulance and police were called to the address in Halton when the male collapsed in the back garden. But following further investigations, officers uncovered a makeshift laboratory in the property's outhouse, which later led them to large quantities of imported chemicals stored in lockups around the city.

The resident of the property, Angela Watson, and a man linked to the deceased and the storage of chemicals, James Dawson, were both sentenced at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting allowing premises to be used for the production of a class B drug.

The court heard that a 999 call was made on the evening of November 26, 2019 for a man requiring medical treatment in the back garden of the property on Wykebeck Place. He was the brother-in-law of Watson.

Paramedics noticed white powder on his hands, and having been rushed to Leeds General Infirmary, they noticed more powder on his clothing. He died later that evening.

Watson said that the deceased man had come to her home to drop off a motorbike, but after gaining entry to the locked outhouse, officers were met with a smoke-filled drug-making laboratory. A large vat of chemicals appeared to have spilled onto the floor and reacted with the concrete, which the court heard "precipitated" the man's collapse. Watson, now 57, was arrested.

Like Breaking Bad - in which the antagonists set up labs to create illegal methamphetamine - the Leeds lab was designed to create the so-called party drug, mephedrone. Also known as Mcat, it gives users a similar high to amphetamine. It was banned in 2010 and categorised as a class B drug having been previously referred to as a "legal high", often taken by nightclubbers.

Officers later found 1.3kg of the drug at the deceased man's home. Although the lab on Wykebeck Place was only capable of producing kilogrammes, the amount of chemicals found at lock-ups around the city was enough to produce the drug on an "industrial scale", the court heard, suggesting there were other undiscovered labs in the area.

One unit in Stourton was found to have been rented by Dawson and invoices by the deceased for Dawson were found. The pair had been in contact 85 times in the week before his death.

Dawson, age 42 of Neville Parade, Osmondthorpe, and Watson, of Wykebeck Place, have limited previous convictions, although Dawson has since been in trouble for a series of burglaries of Co-op stores. He admitted four counts of non-dwelling burglaries and one of fraud by false representation.

Mitigating for Dawson, Christopher Dunn said he was "effectively duped from the start" when it came to allowing the ingredient chemicals for mephedrone to be stored. For the burglaries, he said that he was in debt to HMRC and it was the offences of a "desperate man".

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For mother-of-four Watson, Taryn Turner said: "The last place she anticipated she would be is in a criminal court. This has weighed heavily on her mind along with the tragedy of losing her brother-in-law. She has suffered enormously over the course of the last five years. She allowed herself to be manipulated and was told she would 'get a good Christmas present', and that was it. Clearly this production scheme was well thought out and carefully planned."

Judge Richard Mansell KC conceded there was an "unacceptable delay" in bringing the matter to court. He jailed Dawson for 12 months, suspended for 12 months and gave him 150 hours of unpaid work. Watson was given a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation days.