A student who sold drugs on the dark web after being inspired by the TV series Breaking Bad has been jailed for more than 11 years.

Jaikishen Patel, of Woodford Avenue, Clayhall, was one of four men who conspired in a drugs ring which imported and exported ecstasy, LSD, 2CB and ketamine.

Led by petro-chemical engineering student Basil Assaf, 26, Patel and two others, Elliott Hyams, 26 and James Roden, 25, used the illicit online marketplace Silk Road to peddle drugs between 2011 and 2013.

The four became immersed in the recreational drugs scene during their first year at the University of Manchester and, inspired by US drama Breaking Bad, soon moved on to selling illegal substances.

Manchester Crown Court heard this week the gang made more than £800,000 selling drugs on Silk Road, but also supplied them in person in exchange for cash.

The defendants enjoyed a lifestyle "far above that of typical students" including taking holidays to Jamaica and the Bahamas, prosecutors told the court.

Prosecutors said Assaf, of Corringway, Ealing, thought he was "invincible” and bragged of his liking for Veuve Clicquot rose champagne and the flat he was able to buy in Manchester city centre.

However, the gang were brought down after the FBI seized Silk Road’s servers in October 2013 and passed their details onto the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK.

All four men, who had since left university and moved on to full-time employment, pleaded guilty to conspiring to import, export and supply controlled drugs.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

(l to r) Basil Assaf, Elliott Hyams, and James Roden, were also jailed

Patel was jailed for 11 years and two months, while Hyams, of Barnsbury Street, Islington was jailed for 11 years and three months and Roden, of Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill, was jailed for 12 years.

Ring-leader Assaf was sentenced to 15 years and three months behind bars.

Sentencing, Judge Michael Leeming told the defendants: "Drugs are a blight on our society. Misery and degradation is the typical result.

"As intelligent young men you will all each appreciate that that misery is caused and certainly contributed to by people like you."

He noted the drugs involved were dangerous and potentially fatal, and that the death rate from ecstasy was increasing.

A fifth defendant, Joshua Morgan, 28, of Chapeltown Street, Manchester, was jailed for seven years and two months after admitting assisting offenders by packing drugs for dispatch by post.

Ian Glover, senior operations manager at the National Crime Agency, said: "These five men were interested only in making money.

“They had no regard whatsoever for the harm these drugs could do to their users.

"The FBI's excellent work shut the site down in 2013 in a globally significant operation and information they shared with us enabled us to identify, arrest and successfully build this case.”