'Poison plot' GP Thomas Khan stopped for snack at Greggs after 'murder attempt'

Thomas Kwan injected a noxious substance into Patrick O’Hara while disguised as a community nurse. He then went into a Greggs to get some food, prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC said

“Poison plot” GP Thomas Kwan stopped at a Greggs after allegedly trying to murder his mum’s partner over her inheritance, a court heard.

Kwan, 53, injected a noxious substance into Patrick O’Hara, then 71, while disguised as a community nurse. He had sent him fake NHS letters to arrange the “Covid jab” in advance, said Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting.

Then, Mr Makepeace added: “He went into a Greggs to get something to eat before collecting his car.” After the jab, Mr O’Hara contacted his GP and hospital complaining of inflammation at the site of the injection. His condition grew worse and he was rushed to hospital.

He was diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis, a life-threatening flesh-eating disease, and had to be treated in intensive care. Mr Makepeace said: “Considerable portions of Mr O’Hara’s arm flesh had to be removed in repeated procedures.”

Five days after the attack, Mr O’Hara received another NHS-style letter detailing the results of his blood tests before the jab was given, the jury heard. A package meant for Mr O’Hara was then intercepted by police containing over-the-counter iron supplements which the prosecution say had been sent by the defendant, who worked as a GP at a surgery in Sunderland.

The jury at Newcastle crown court was shown CCTV of Kwan arriving at the Premier Inn, near his mum’s home in Newcastle, on January 22. He then dressed in surgical mask, gloves, hat and dark tinted spectacles to administer the noxious substance

to Mr O’Hara. It was believed to be iodomethane, a pesticide, which had never been administered to a human before, the court heard. Mr O’Hara, who shouted in pain when he was injected, only became suspicious when Kwan’s mum Jenny Leung remarked that the nurse was about the same height as her son. He ran out into the street, but Kwan was gone, Mr Makepeace said.

Kwan, of Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, has denied attempted murder and GBH. He has admitted administering a noxious substance. The trial continues on Monday.