Disguised GP jailed for inheritance row poisoning

A GP who disguised himself and injected his mother's partner with a poison in a row over an inheritance has been jailed for 31 years and five months.

Thomas Kwan, 53, was posing as a community nurse giving a coronavirus booster jab when he injected Patrick O'Hara, 71, with a toxin in Newcastle in January.

Mr O'Hara, who contracted a life-threatening flesh-eating disease which caused horrific injuries, previously told Newcastle Crown Court he had become a "shell" of himself.

Kwan, who admitted attempted murder after the first day of his trial, was described as "calculated and callous" by the sentencing judge.

The GP, who worked at Happy House Surgery in Sunderland, spent months planning the "audacious" attack, prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC said.

He was "obsessed" with money and was angry his mother Wai King Leung, also known as Jenny Leung, had created a will in 2021 granting her partner of 21 years a share in her Newcastle home, the court heard.

Kwan, a wealthy doctor who lived in a large detached home in Ingleby Barwick with his wife and young son, was motivated purely by greed, Mr Makepeace said.

The doctor had installed spyware on his mother's computer years earlier to track her finances.

On 22 January, Kwan went to Ms Leung and Mr O'Hara's home on St Thomas Street posing as a community nurse called Raj Patel, having arranged the visit through multiple forged letters.

He was disguised behind a face mask and hat and had created a fake ID in which he had tanned his skin and wore a black wig with a false beard and moustache.

The GP travelled to Newcastle the night before in a car fitted with false number plates and stayed at a nearby hotel under a fake name.

At the end of his 45-minute visit, during which he carried out blood checks and health surveys, Kwan injected Mr O'Hara in the arm.

Mr O'Hara said he immediately felt an "excruciating pain" but his visitor told him that was a normal reaction, then left in a hurry.

The victim quickly became suspicious when Ms Leung said the visitor was the same height as her son.

Mr O'Hara spent five weeks in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary during which time doctors cut away large pieces of diseased flesh in a desperate bid to stop the the necrotising fasciitis spreading beyond his arm.

He needed several skin graft surgeries and was left with post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as needing ongoing physiotherapy.

Prosecutors believed Kwan used a pesticide called iodomethane, although multiple other poisons, including the ingredients for making ricin, were found at his home along with numerous books, recipes and terrorism manuals about toxins.

Detectives also found evidence of a a "back-up plan" which involved a fake charity sending free food and wine.

Judge Mrs Justice Lambert said it was an "audacious" and extensively planned scheme to "kill a man in plain sight", which nearly worked.

She said Kwan was masquerading as a community nurse so he could "administer a lethal injection" to his victim, and Mr O'Hara had no reason to suspect his visitor was not genuine.

The judge said the letters Kwan forged were "sophisticated" and Kwan gained entry to Mr O'Hara's home in "the most calculated and callous way", adding it "struck at the heart of public confidence" in the NHS.

She said doctors were baffled by Mr O'Hara's symptoms, adding he suffered horrific injuries which needed extensive treatment.

"Fortunately he survived although he still suffers from the physical and psychological consequences of your attempt to kill him.

"It is clear he has been transformed from the tough stoical person he was before the attack."

Mrs Justice Lambert said Mr O'Hara had post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks and had broken up with Kwan's mother.

The court heard Kwan was born in Hong Kong and moved to the UK to attend boarding school at age 13, going on to study medicine at Newcastle University.

Mrs Justice Lambert said Kwan was motivated by a "continual obsession" with his mother's estate, adding: "Your resentment and bitterness towards your mother and Mr O'Hara was all to do with money."

She noted Kwan had a "morbid obsession" with poisons, had amassed a "library of materials" and searched the internet for iodomethane 97 times in January.

The judge said Kwan was a "dangerous offender" who posed a high risk of serious harm to Mr O'Hara.

The GP was told he had shown a "shocking level of distorted thinking, a distinct sense of entitlement and capacity for the most extreme behaviour in order to meet your own needs".