Thomas Kwan: GP who tried to kill mother's partner with fake Covid booster jab admits to attempted murder

Thomas Kwan, 53, had initially pleaded not guilty to attempted murder at Newcastle Crown Court. However, the GP changed his plea after the prosecution opened the case against him.

The married father-of-one used a chemical weapon to attempt the murder of 72-year-old Patrick O’Hara at his mother’s home in St Thomas Street, Newcastle, on January 22, 2024. Police initially believed the chemical weapon to be ricin due to ingredients being found in his home and searches for rictin recipes on his computer, but an expert later theorised that a pesticide was more likely to have been used in the murder attempt.

The Sunderland-based GP sparked a huge emergency service response after lethal chemicals were found in the garage of his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside. As a result of the fake Covid-19 jab, Mr O’Hara developed a rare flesh-eating disease in his arm.

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.”

Kwan had already admitted to administering a noxious substance, telling the court that he only intended to cause mild pain. However, he has now admitted to attempted murder.

The court heard that he forged NHS paperwork to set up the home visit and disguised himself to administer the jab. He also travelled to Newcastle using fake licence pates and booked into a city centre hotel overnight under a fake name.

Kwan, who was described as “money-obsessed”, is said to have had a strained relationship with his mother, Jenny Leung, after she changed her will to reflect that her partner, Mr O’Hara, could stay in her home in the event of her death. He installed spyware on her laptop to secretly monitor her finances, with police also being called when he burst into her home uninvited in November 2022.

He disguised himself as ‘Raj Patel’ in a letter to Mr O’Hara offering a home visit to administer the Covid-19 booster jab, despite the elderly man only receiving one three months before. 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 arrived at the home in a long coat, flat cap, surgical gloves, medical mask and tinted glasses and carried out a 45-minute examination on Mr O’Hara. His mother was also present but did not recognise the disguised Kwan, who spoke in broken English with an Asian accent.

Mr O’Hara is said to have shouted in pain as the jab was administered, with Kwan making a swift exit soon after. Mr O’Hara continued to feel overwhelming pain with his injuries confusing medical staff, although he was later diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis and had to have part of his arm cut away.

Kwan is set to be sentence on Thursday, October 17. Mrs Justice Lambert warned Kwan: “There will be a substantial custodial term.”