Disguised GP admits plot to kill mother's partner by poisoning him with fake COVID booster jab
Thomas Kwan, 53, admits plotting to kill Patrick O'Hara at his mother's home after he heard the prosecution open the case against him.
Monday 7 October 2024 14:17, UK
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.
Victim did 'absolutely nothing' to Kwan
Opening the case on 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 in 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.
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.
In November 2023, Kwan wrote to Mr O'Hara posing as nurse Raj Patel, and offered a home visit to administer the booster jab, which Mr Makepeace said was a "pretext" to inject him with a dangerous poison.
"As, I suspect, would any of us, Mr O'Hara fell for it hook, line and sinker," the prosecutor said on Thursday. "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.
When he attended the home, Kwan - wearing a long coat, flat cap, surgical gloves, a medical mask and tinted glasses - carried out a 45-minute examination on Mr O'Hara.
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He also checked his mother's blood pressure when she asked, and told Mr O'Hara he needed a COVID booster, despite him having had one only three months prior.
While administering the injection, Mr O'Hara shouted in pain. Kwan told him the reaction was not uncommon while speaking in broken English using an Asian accent, and left the home quickly.
A day after the fake COVID jab, Mr O'Hara's arm had become blistered and seriously discoloured as he developed necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease.
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Kwan possessed arsenic and ricin ingredients
Police were able to identify Kwan as a suspect using CCTV footage to trace his movements. A search of his home also revealed he was in possession of arsenic and liquid mercury as well as castor beans, which can be used to make the chemical weapon ricin.
While officers found a recipe for ricin on Kwan's computer, Ministry of Defence poisons expert Professor Steven Emmett thought it was more likely iodomethane - commonly found in pesticides - was used. He was still not sure what specific poison Kwan had injected Mr O'Hara with.
Kwan will be sentenced on Thursday 17 October after the Probation Service has considered his dangerousness.
Mrs Justice Lambert told Kwan "there will be a substantial custodial term", to which Paul Greaney KC, defending, replied: "The defendant entirely understands that is inevitable."
Christopher Atkinson, head of the Complex Casework Unit for CPS North East, said Kwan's attempt on Mr O'Hara's life had "catastrophic" effects.
He added: "At a time when Kwan could have assisted medical staff by identifying this substance, he instead made no comment to the questions put to him in police interview, allowing the victim's health to further deteriorate."