GP jailed for 31 years over ‘audacious’ plot to murder mother’s partner with fake Covid jab

A judge described the scheme as an ‘audacious’ plot to murder a man in plain sight motivated by financial gain

A GP who disguised himself as a nurse and poisoned his mother’s partner with a fake Covid jab in an audacious plot to murder him has been jailed for 31 years.

Sunderland-based Dr Thomas Kwan, 53, admitted trying to killing Patrick O’Hara in an extraordinary plan that left the 72-year old with a rare flesh-eating disease.

He had initially denied attempted murder, but changed his plea after he heard the prosecution open the case against him at Newcastle Crown Court last month.

On Wednesday he was sentenced to 31 years and five months behind bars by Judge Mrs Justice Lambert, who said: “It was an audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight and you very nearly succeeded in your objective.’’

A disguised photo ID was found by police on Dr Thomas Kwan’s computer (PA Media)

The judge said Kwan tricked his victim and his estranged mother using “good forgeries” of NHS letters, adding: “By your masquerading, you struck at the heart of public confidence in the health care profession.”

She said there was “no doubt” he plotted to kill Mr O’Hara for financial gain over the inheritance he felt entitled to.

The judge said there might well have been “bad blood” between Kwan and his mother, going back to his childhood, adding: “Whatever the deep-rooted cause, by 2024 and well before, your resentment and bitterness towards your mother and Mr O’Hara was all to do with money and your belief you were not being given money which you thought you were entitled to.”

At a previous hearing, the victim said the fake vaccination administered in January caused intense pain, making it seem as though his arm was on fire, and that he felt he should have died.

Mr O’Hara needed weeks of hospital treatment after developing a flesh-eating disease which required plastic surgery and he said the attack left him “a shell of an individual”.

Kwan, who was obsessed with money and developed a deep knowledge of poisons, planned his murder bid for months by writing fake letters, supposedly from the NHS, offering Mr O’Hara a home visit in January this year.

The married 53-year-old was motivated by greed after finding out that his mother, Jenny Leung, had made a will which allowed Mr O’Hara to stay in her home should she die before him. The couple have split up since her son’s attempt on his life.

Thomas Kwan was on trial at Newcastle Crown Court but changed his plea (PA Wire)

Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, said at a previous hearing: “The motive for this attempt to kill was to remove an impediment to his inheritance.”

Kwan refused to tell police which poison he had used as medics battled to save Mr O’Hara.

His victim had responded with stoicism to his physical suffering, the court heard, but he has since developed post-traumatic stress disorder.

Officers scoured CCTV and were able to track Kwan, still disguised as a nurse, back to a city centre hotel and then to his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside.

CCTV captured GP Thomas Kwan leaving the Premier Inn on Newgate Street in Newcastle city centre wearing a face mask and gloves (Northumbria Police/PA)

In his garage they discovered an array of dangerous chemicals which the GP had amassed. On his computer, they found instructions on how to make the chemical weapon ricin.

It was first thought he had used ricin on Mr O’Hara but a poisons expert said iodomethane, which is used in pesticides, was more likely.

During the trial last month, Paul Greaney KC, defending, said the GP was previously of positive good character, and had “ruined his life”.

He described Kwan’s disguise, when he passed himself off as a nurse, as “amateurish” and “clumsy”.