'Money-obsessed' GP admits trying to kill mother's partner by poisoning him with fake Covid jab

Thomas Kwan previously denied attempted murder, but dramatically changed his plea in court today

A "respected" GP has admitted plotting to kill his mother’s partner by disguising himself as a community nurse and poisoning him with a fake Covid jab. Thomas Kwan previously denied attempted murder, but dramatically changed his plea in court today.

The 53-year-old was initially thought to have used the chemical weapon ricin to try to kill Patrick O’Hara, now 72, at his mother’s home in St Thomas Street, Newcastle, on January 22. However Newcastle Crown Court was told an expert believed a pesticide was more likely.

Kwan, a married father-of-one, sparked a major emergency services operation when police found lethal chemicals stored in the detached garage at his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside. The GP, who was based in Sunderland, had already pleaded guilty to administering a noxious substance, claiming he meant to cause no more than mild pain.

READ MORE: Airline warns UK tourists 'they will not be accepted' as flights cancelled and 'do not travel' warning issued

However the Crown’s case was that Kwan meant to kill his mother’s partner of more than 20 years, who developed a rare flesh-eating disease as a result of the jab in his arm. The court heard that Kwan, who was born in Hong Kong, had developed an “encyclopaedic knowledge” of poisons. Police analysis of his home computers also found he had studied how to get away with murder.

As the case opened on Thursday, Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, said: “Mr Thomas Kwan, the defendant in the case, was in January of this year a respected and experienced medical doctor in general practice with a GP’s surgery based in Sunderland. From November 2023 at the latest, and probably long before then, he devised an intricate plan to kill his mother’s long-term partner, a man called Patrick O’Hara.

“On any view, that man had done absolutely nothing to offend Mr Kwan in any way whatsoever. He was, however, a potential impediment to Mr Kwan inheriting his mother’s estate upon her death.

“Mr Kwan used his encyclopaedic knowledge of, and research into, poisons to carry out his plan. That plan was to disguise himself as a community nurse, attend Mr O’Hara’s address, the home he shared with the defendant’s mother, and inject him with a dangerous poison under the pretext of administering a Covid booster injection.”

The court was told Kwan's mother, Jenny Leung, had named Mr O’Hara in her will to the effect that he could stay in her house should she die before him. However that decision led to her having a strained relationship with her son, so much so that the police were called when Kwan burst into her home uninvited in November 2022.

Jurors heard Kwan was “money-obsessed” and had installed spyware on his mother’s laptop so he could secretly monitor her finances.

NHS documentation was forged by Khan to set up the home visit, with Mr O’Hara, as the GP claimed to be a community nurse called Raj Patel . Mr Makepeace said: “As, I suspect, would any of us, Mr O’Hara fell for it hook, line and sinker, he had not the slightest suspicion that this was anything other than a genuine NHS community care initiative which he warmly welcomed and was grateful for.”

Kwan wore a disguise when he attended his mother's house for the 45-minute examination - donning a long coat, flat cap, surgical gloves and wearing a medical mask and tinted glasses. In what the court heard was broken English with an Asian accent, told Mr O’Hara he needed a Covid booster, even though he had only had one three months before.

The court heard Mr O’Hara had shouted in pain when it was administered and Kwan had quickly packed his equipment and left, reassuring his victim that a reaction was not uncommon. But when the pain continued, Mr O’Hara began to suspect something had gone badly wrong.

His arm had blistered by the next day and was seriously discoloured, leaving hospital medics baffled. Mr O'Hara had developed necrotising fasciitis - a flesh-eating disease - and needed to have part of his arm cut away to stop it spreading. He spent several weeks in intensive care.

Police identified Kwan as the suspect after tracking the fake nurse’s movements via CCTV. Searches of his home uncovered an array of chemicals, including arsenic and liquid mercury, plus castor beans which could be used to make the chemical weapon ricin. A recipe for ricin was also found on his computer but Ministry of Defence poisons expert Professor Steven Emmett, although still not sure which poison was used, thought iodomethane which is commonly used in pesticides, was more likely.

Mrs Justice Lambert told Kwan he would be sentenced on Thursday next week, once the issue of his dangerousness has been considered by the Probation Service. The prosecution said their position remained that the case was financially motivated.

Kwan was warned by Mrs Justice Lambert that there would be "a substantial custodial term". Paul Greaney KC, defending, replied: “The defendant entirely understands that is inevitable.”