GP ‘disguised himself as nurse to try and murder mum’s partner with fake Covid jab’

A GP disguised himself as a nurse and tried to kill his mum’s partner by injecting him with a fake coronavirus booster jab, a court has heard.

Thomas Kwan, 53, is accused of trying to murder Patrick O’Hara because he stood in the way of inheritance from his mum.

Patrick, 71, became seriously ill after the injection but he survived after having to undergo emergency surgery.

Kwan was seen arriving at a Premier Inn in Newcastle wearing a hat, tinted glasses, gloves and a mask on January 22.

He then left the hotel and walked across the city to his mum’s house in order to administer the injection.

He took blood and urine samples from Patrick, before administering the fake Covid jab.

Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, told Newcastle crown court today: ‘As most of us do, Mr O’Hara averted his eyes as the nurse proceeded to dispense an injection into his left upper arm.

‘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.’

Kwan, a partner at a GP surgery in Sunderland, has pleaded guilty to administering a noxious substance but denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.

After his arrest police searched his home and found a fake ID badge with the fake name Raj Patel, using a disguised selfie Kwan had taken of himself wearing a wig, fake beard and fake moustache.

Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, told Newcastle crown court today: ‘This ID was plainly prepared in the event Mr O’Hara asked for identification on the day he was poisoned.

‘Sometimes, occasionally perhaps, the truth really is stranger than fiction. The case you are about to try, on any view, is an extraordinary case.

‘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 encyclopedic knowledge of, and research into, poisons to carry out his plan.

‘It was an audacious plan, it was a plan to murder a man in plain sight, to murder a man right in front of his own mother’s eyes, that man’s life partner.’

Kwan was estranged from his mother, Wai King, after falling out with her over her plans to leave her home to Patrick, who she had been in a relationship with for more than 20 years.  

On November 15, 2022, Kwan pushed past Patrick to get into his mother’s home and began grilling her about the will. Patrick called police and Kwan was given a warning.

Kwan is then accused of returning home to devise his plan to kill his mum’s partner.

Within seconds of the jab, Patrick began to feel agonising pain in his arm and his life was only saved by surgeons cutting away large sections of the poisoned flesh in emergency surgery.

The trial continues.  

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