A GP has admitted plotting to kill his mother’s partner by disguising himself as a community nurse and poisoning him with a fake COVID booster jab.
Thomas Kwan, 53, was on trial at Newcastle Crown Court and had initially denied attempted murder, but changed his plea after he heard the prosecution open the case against him.
Police initially thought the married father-of-one used the chemical weapon ricin to try to kill 72-year-old Patrick O’Hara at his mother’s home on 22 January, but an expert believed a pesticide was more likely.
Kwan sparked a major emergency services operation when police found lethal chemicals stored in the detached garage at his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside.
The Sunderland-based GP had already pleaded guilty to administering a noxious substance, claiming he meant to cause no more than mild pain.
Prosecutors said he 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.
Part of Mr O’Hara’s arm had to be cut away to stop the disease from spreading, and he spent several weeks in intensive care after the injection.
The court heard Kwan posed as a community nurse and used a fake name to book a hotel in his plot.
Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
Victim did ‘absolutely nothing’ to Kwan
Opening the case Thursday, prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC said Mr O’Hara “had done absolutely nothing to offend Mr Kwan in any way whatsoever”.
The lawyer added: “He was, however, a potential impediment to Mr Kwan inheriting his mother’s estate upon her death.”
Jenny Leung, Kwan’s mother, had named Mr O’Hara in her will to the effect that he could stay in her home on St Thomas Street, Newcastle, should she die before her partner.
This led to a strained relationship between Kwan and Ms Leung, the court heard. Police were later called to the property after he burst in uninvited in November 2022.
Prosecutors also described Kwan as “money-obsessed” and noted he installed spyware on his mother’s laptop to monitor her finances.
Kwan had a strained relationship with his mother after she named Patrick O’Hara in her will.
Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
Fake names and nurse disguises
The Hong Kong-born doctor had developed an “encyclopaedic knowledge” of poisons, the court heard, and police discovered he studied how to get away with murder after analysing his home computers.
Mr Makepeace said Kwan had planned 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”.
In November 2023, Kwan wrote to Mr O’Hara as nurse Raj Patel, and offered a home visit to administer the booster jab.
“As, I suspect, would any of us, Mr O’Hara fell for it hook, line and sinker,” Mr Makepeace said.
“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.”
The court also heard the 53-year-old forged NHS documentation to set up the home visit, used false number plates for the journey to Newcastle and booked a city centre hotel using a false name.
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