A GP who tried to kill his mother’s partner by disguising himself as a community nurse before poisoning him with a fake COVID booster jab has been jailed for 31 years.
Sentencing Dr Thomas Kwan, 53, at Newcastle Crown Court, Mrs Justice Lambert said: “It was an audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight and you very nearly succeeded in your objective.”
The Sunderland-based GP had written to Patrick O’Hara pretending to be a nurse called Raj Patel in November 2023.
He offered a home visit to administer the booster jab, which prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC said was a “pretext” to inject Mr O’Hara with a dangerous poison.
Kwan disguised himself by wearing a long coat, flat cap, surgical gloves, a medical mask and tinted glasses as he carried out a 45-minute examination of the 72-year-old in January.
The visit took place at the home of Kwan’s mother Jenny Leung – where Mr O’Hara was staying at the time.
He had initially denied attempted murder but changed his plea after he heard the prosecution open the case against him.
Speaking after Kwan was sentenced, Mr O’Hara said he thinks “justice has been done” and thanked police and prosecutors.
“The sincerity and the professionalism they have shown has been amazing,” he added.
Police initially thought the GP used the chemical weapon ricin to try to kill Mr O’Hara, but an expert believed a pesticide was more likely.
The prosecution said Mr O’Hara had been a “potential impediment” to Kwan inheriting his mother’s estate upon her death.
Ms Leung had named the 72-year-old 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, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The court previously heard how Kwan wrote to Mr O’Hara posing as the nurse, and how he had forged NHS documentation to set up the home visit.
He also used false number plates for the journey to Newcastle and booked a city centre hotel using a false name.
Speaking in court on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Lambert said the letters were “good forgeries,” and said Mr O’Hara and Ms Leung would not have had reason to suspect they were fake.
“By your masquerading, you struck at the heart of public confidence in the health care profession,” she told Kwan.
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In October, Mr Makepeace told Newcastle Crown Court that Mr O’Hara “had done absolutely nothing to offend Mr Kwan in any way whatsoever”.
It was noted that police were called to Ms Leung’s property after Kwan 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.
Mrs Justice Lambert then said Wednesday that Kwan was “certainly obsessed by money and more particularly, the money to which you considered yourself entitled”.
“Whatever the deep-rooted cause, by 2024 and well before,” she said, “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.”
The judge then said Kwan chose iodomethane – used in pesticides – as it would be difficult for medics to detect, and added the GP showed “distorted thinking,” a “morbid obsession” with toxic chemicals, and a “capacity for most extreme behaviour in order to meet your own needs”.
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When he attended his mother’s home last year, the court was told Kwan also checked Ms Leung’s blood pressure when she asked.
While Kwan administered the injection, Mr O’Hara shouted in pain. The GP 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.
Officers were able to track Kwan – still in disguise – back to a city centre hotel and then to his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside.
They then discovered an array of dangerous chemicals which the GP had amassed in his garage.
Paul Greaney KC, defending, said on Wednesday that 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”.
