In a shocking case that has left the nation reeling, a “money-obsessed” GP has been sentenced to over 31 years in prison for a sinister plot to poison his mother’s long-time partner while disguised as a nurse administering a fake COVID-19 booster shot. The elaborate scheme, driven by an obsessive desire to secure his inheritance, has been described as “an audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight.”
The Twisted Plot Unfolds
According to court proceedings at Newcastle Crown Court, the GP, identified as 53-year-old Thomas Kwan, had initially denied the attempted murder charge. However, after just one day of evidence at his trial, Kwan abruptly changed his plea to guilty, stunning the courtroom.
The court heard how Kwan, described as being “obsessed by money,” meticulously planned the murder of his mother’s partner of 20 years, Patrick O’Hara. Kwan saw the 72-year-old O’Hara as a “potential impediment” to his inheritance, despite Kwan himself being a wealthy man with a “lavish lifestyle.”
It’s not greed bred of a shortage of money, it’s not a greed bred of necessity. It is a greed bred, purely and simply, of greed.
Prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC
The Elaborate Disguise
To carry out his sinister plan, Kwan went to extraordinary lengths. He reportedly forged NHS documentation, disguised himself as a community nurse complete with surgical gloves, mask, and tinted spectacles, used false number plates on his vehicle, and even booked into a hotel under a bogus name.
Makepeace told the jury it was “an audacious 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.” Shockingly, neither Kwan’s mother nor O’Hara recognized him in his elaborate disguise.
A Toxic Injection
Instead of a COVID-19 booster, Kwan injected O’Hara with a toxic substance, believed to be iodomethane, a chemical used as a fumigant pesticide. The poison caused O’Hara to develop an extremely rare and life-threatening flesh-eating disease called necrotizing fasciitis.
O’Hara survived the attack, but only after multiple surgeries to remove large portions of necrotic flesh from his arms. The victim, who delivered his own impact statement in court, described feeling “instant, excruciating pain” when the needle entered his arm, saying it felt like his arm was “on fire.”
This incident should have been the end of me. Had it not been for medical intervention I am positive that, not only would I have lost my left arm, but my life as well.
Victim Patrick O’Hara
A Life Shattered
The attack has left O’Hara a “shell of an individual,” plagued by extreme PTSD, fatigue, and constant fear. His relationship with Kwan’s mother has ended, and he lives in terror of Kwan seeking retribution against him or his loved ones upon release.
In a disturbing revelation from prison letters Kwan sent to his wife, it emerged that the disgraced doctor was angry about O’Hara’s entitlement to victim compensation. “One old man’s compensation for three young lives ruined. Where’s the justice in that?” Kwan wrote, showing no remorse for his actions.
Justice Served
Sentencing Kwan to 31 years and five months in prison, Mrs Justice Lambert described the case as “an audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight.” She highlighted Kwan’s sense of entitlement to his mother’s estate as a key motivator, despite his own considerable wealth.
The defense counsel, Paul Greaney KC, acknowledged that Kwan, previously of good character, had “ruined his life” through this act. He described Kwan’s disguise as “amateurish” and “clumsy,” but the severity of the crime and its impact on the victim remained undeniable.
As Kwan begins his lengthy prison term, the nation is left to grapple with the shocking depths of human greed and the devastating consequences it can unleash. For Patrick O’Hara, the road to recovery, both physical and emotional, stretches long ahead, as he tries to rebuild a life shattered by an act of unfathomable cruelty at the hands of a trusted profession.
