A GP who tried to kill his mother’s partner with poison in a fake Covid jab while posing as a nurse did nothing to help medics trying to save him from a flesh-eating disease, a senior Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyer said.
Thomas Kwan, 53, a partner in the Happy House surgery in Sunderland, has admitted attempted murder on Patrick O’Hara, now aged 72, at his mother’s home in Newcastle.
The exact poison used in the fake vaccine jab has not been identified, and Kwan refused to give details when questioned by police.
Outside Newcastle Crown Court, Christopher Atkinson, head of the Complex Casework Unit for CPS North East, said: “Thomas Kwan went to highly unusual lengths in his attempts to kill his mother’s partner while avoiding detection.
“Over several months, he obsessively planned a way of gaining access to his victim, which involved the use of counterfeit documents, a shell company and elaborate disguises to obscure the potentially lethal role he was to play in these events.
“While the attempt on his victim’s life was thankfully unsuccessful, the effects were still catastrophic.
“The chemical injected caused increasingly severe damage, beginning with burns and blisters around the injection site and progressing into a potentially life-threatening flesh-eating disease.
“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.”
Mr Atkinson said the murder plot was “one of the most elaborate criminal plots in recent memory”.
After the GP pleaded guilty, Detective Chief Inspector Jason Henry of Northumbria Police said: “Thomas Kwan’s actions were utterly despicable.”
The detective praised Mr O’Hara, saying: “He has been through a horrendous ordeal, his life has changed forever.
“He has shown incredible strength throughout the investigation and we will continue to support him in any way we can.”
The trial ground to a halt on Thursday after the prosecution had finished its opening summary of the evidence.
The Crown had started to show a video interview with Mr O’Hara, filmed when he was still in hospital and wearing a gown.
A technical problem with the video led to a break in proceedings, at which point Kwan spoke in private with his legal team, pleading guilty on Monday morning.
It emerged during the trial that Kwan had developed alternative plans for if he did not go ahead with the fake nurse plot.
Police found a document from the “Northern England Men Sporting Association” addressed to “Patrick” and offering him free drinks and ready meals through the post in recognition of his contributions to the North East throughout his working life.
There was also a document he created, supposedly from the “Northern Wine and Drinks Tasting Gentlemen’s Club” which the prosecution said hinted “at yet another method of delivery explored by Mr Kwan”.
Kwan has been suspended by the General Medical Council since February.
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