Cannabis-growing couple billed as Britain’s ‘Breaking Bad’

A drug crime that's being called the real-life version of the hit television show Breaking Bad has landed a British couple in jail.

Darren and Debra Wright remortgaged their house and raised money to pay for treatment when their four-year-old daughter, Chloe, developed rhabdomysarcoma, a rare form of cancer, according to the Telegraph. But Chloe died from the disease in 2004 and three years later, they also lost a nine-year-old daughter named Ella to a staphylococcus infection, according to the story. Darren started to smoke cannabis.

His habit grew into a business, and within five years the Wrights had opened seven factories in Kent, producing £4 million ($6,590,800) worth of cannabis.

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However, the Telegraph reported that this year police began to investigate the couple, who also have another daughter aged 17. The Wrights tried to flee to Spain but they were extradited and convicted on drug charges along with 11 other people who were involved in the drug empire.

The judge sentenced Debra to three years, while her husband received a five year, eight month sentence, according to the story.

The story is vaguely reminiscent of the plot of AMC's series Breaking Bad, in which a high school chemistry teacher is diagnosed with lung cancer and decides, in the face of mounting medical bills, to manufacture and sell methamphetamine.