GP accused of trying to kill mum’s partner with fake Covid booster jab laced with poison

A GP in Sunderland has been accused of trying to murder his mother’s partner with a fake booster. Thomas Kwan allegedly laced the fake jab with a flesh-eating poison amid a tense inheritance dispute.

heard “extraordinary” details about the strange murder plot that the prosecutor claimed was “irrational”. On Wednesday, the court was shown CCTV footage of the 53-year-old arriving at a Premier Inn in Newcastle donning a hat, tinted spectacles, gloves and a mask on January 22 this year. Kwan is alleged to have used a Premier Inn hotel as a base for his murder plot, after looking at several venues in Newcastle.

Kwan, disguised himself as a nurse in his hotel room, later left the hotel and travelled to his mother’s house to allegedly administer an injection to her long-term partner Patrick O’Hara with a poisonous jab, the court heard.

Afterward, the 71-year-old became grievously ill but survived following emergency surgery.

Kwan has already pleaded guilty to administering a noxious substance but denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of grievous bodily harm with intent. He has also been accused of hoarding ingredients at his home to make ricin and other toxins.

Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, told the Newcastle jury: “Sometimes, occasionally perhaps, the truth really is stranger than fiction. The case you are about to try, on any view, is an extraordinary case.”

He explained that to the outside world, Kwan was “a respected and experienced medical doctor in general practice with a GP’s surgery based in Sunderland”.

However, in November 2023, the court heard how the GP began to devise “an intricate plan to kill his mother’s long-term partner”.

Mr Makepeace continued: “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.”

On Wednesday, the court heard how the strange murder plot involved Kwan disguising himself as a community nurse, going to Mr O’Hara’s home – which he shared with Kwan’s mother – and introducing himself as the expected nurse after setting up the appointment with a second phone.

Police later found a fake ID badge in the name of a nurse named Raj Patel.

Mr Makepeace explained that the plan was “to inject him with a dangerous poison under the pretext of administering a booster injection”.

The court heard that Kwan, who has a wife and a young son, had been furious that his mother, Wai King – also known as Jenny Leung, had decided to leave her home to Mr O’Hara.

His mother had been in a relationship with Mr O’Hara for 20 years.

The prosecutor described the horrific scene at Mr O’Hara’s home when the poison was injected.

He said: “‘Immediately Mr O’Hara felt a terrible pain and jumped back. He shouted, ‘bloody hell’ and explained the immediate and intense pain, but the nurse reassured him it was not an uncommon, bad reaction and it was nothing to be concerned about. However, from that point forward, ‘the nurse’ began to noticeably speed up his departure, packing up his equipment and leaving the premises in something of a rush, telling Mr O’Hara not to worry about his stinging arm as the pain would pass in time.”

Mr O’Hara’s life was only later saved by surgeons cutting away large sections of the poisoned flesh in drastic emergency surgery.

The court also heard that Kwan had allegedly installed spyware on his mother’s computer months before the plot so that he could spy on his mother’s financial dealings.

Mr Makepeace said that the “inevitable conclusion” from the spyware is that “this intended murder was motivated by financial gain, no matter how irrational that was”.

The trial continues.