Trial jury told Sunderland GP tried to kill mother's partner with fake covid booster jab

Our reporter Katie Cole has been in court today.

A GP has gone on trial accused of trying to kill his mother’s partner by injecting him with poison while disguised as a community NHS nurse delivering a covid booster.

Dr Thomas Kwan is accused of attempting to murder Patrick O’Hara in his Newcastle home in January as part of an elaborate plot to secure the inheritance of his mother’s estate.

The prosecution alleges the scheme involved the 53-year-old sending fake NHS letters and text messages before donning a disguise so convincing he fooled his own mother.

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court was told Kwan, a practising GP and partner at Happy House Surgery, in Sunderland, admits administering a noxious substance but denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm.

Opening the prosecution’s case, Peter Makepeace KC said: “Sometimes, occasionally perhaps, the truth really is stranger than fiction.”

He continued: “From November 2023 at the latest, and probably long before then, (Kwan) 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 O’Hara had been in a relationship with Kwan’s mother, Jenny Leung, for more than 20 years, jurors were told.

She named Mr O’Hara in her will to the effect that he could stay in her house in St Thomas Street, Newcastle, should she die before her partner.

That decision led to her having a strained relationship with her son, so much so that the police were called when Kwan burst into her home uninvited in November 2022, the court was told.

A year later, Kwan, who is married with a son and lived 50 miles south in Brading Court, Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, faked a letter from the NHS on his home computer to Mr O’Hara “with chilling authenticity”, Mr Makepeace said.

Claiming to be from a community nurse called Raj Patel, he offered Mr O’Hara a home visit, following up that letter in January.

Mr Makepeace said: “As, I suspect, would any of us, Mr O’Hara fell for it hook, line and sinker, he had not the slightest suspicion that this was anything other than a genuine NHS community care initiative which he warmly welcomed and was grateful for.”

The court heard that in the early hours of 22 January this year, Kwan drove his car - using a fake registration plate - from his family home to a Premier Inn, in Newcastle, where he had booked a room under a false name.

He was captured on CCTV, shown to the court, leaving his room, wearing a long coat, hat, clinical mask and blue surgical gloves.

Footage tracked the GP making his way on foot to the city centre home his mother shared with her partner of more than 20 years.

CCTV footage released by Northumbria Police shows Dr Thomas Kwan arriving in Newcastle before putting on a "disguise"

Mr Makepeace said the 72-year-old let tinted-glasses-wearing Kwan into the house where he spent 45 minutes.

During this time, Kwan spoke in what the court heard was broken English with an Asian accent and told Mr O’Hara he needed a covid booster, even though he had only had one three months ago.

He took blood samples from Mr O’Hara, checked the blood pressure of both him and Ms Leung, and then injected Mr O’Hara’s arm.

Mr Makepeace 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.”

The court was told Mr O’Hara suspected something was wrong as the pain worsened - and a comment made by Ms Leung that the apparent nurse was the same height as her son.

After Kwan left the home, Mr O’Hara sought medical help and spent weeks in intensive care.

Mr Makepeace said: "It quickly became apparent Mr O’Hara was suffering from Necrotising Fasciitis, that is a rare and life-threatening, flesh-eating disease.

“Over the coming days Mr O’Hara underwent a series of surgical interventions as plastic surgeons and other specialists worked to stem the spread of the disease by cutting away the diseased flesh and the margins of that flesh with the healthy, in the hope of removing the source of infection as it was spreading.

“Very considerable portions of Mr O’Hara’s arm flesh had to be removed in repeated procedures.”

The jury heard that two weeks after the visit, Kwan was arrested by police who found a haul of chemicals and associated equipment in a detached garage.

A search of his home also revealed a mobile phone used to text Mr O’Hara and storage devices containing research materials on poisons, guidance on murder investigations, and toxicology books including a book called ‘10 poisons used to kill people’.

Mr Makepeace said: “Mr Kwan’s knowledge of poisons, his extensive research and acquired expertise means he cannot have been ignorant of the life-threatening nature of the assault he was perpetrating.”

The court was told analysis by Dr Steven Emmett, the Chief Medical Officer at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories, operated as part of the Ministry of Defence, found a chemical called iodomethane was a “viable candidate” for the poison injected into Mr O’Hara.

The trial was adjourned and will continue on Monday.

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