Thomas Kwan: GP jailed for trying to kill mother’s partner by poisoning him with fake COVID booster jab
A GP who tried to kill his mother’s partner by disguising himself as a community nurse before poisoning him with a fake COVID booster jab has been jailed for 31 years.
Sentencing Dr Thomas Kwan, 53, at Newcastle Crown Court, Mrs Justice Lambert said: “It was an audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight and you very nearly succeeded in your objective.”
The Sunderland-based GP had written to Patrick O’Hara pretending to be a nurse called Raj Patel in November 2023.
He offered a home visit to administer the booster jab, which prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC said was a “pretext” to inject Mr O’Hara with a dangerous poison.
Kwan disguised himself by wearing a long coat, flat cap, surgical gloves, a medical mask and tinted glasses as he carried out a 45-minute examination of the 72-year-old in January.
The visit took place at the home of Kwan’s mother Jenny Leung – where Mr O’Hara was staying at the time.
He had initially denied attempted murder but changed his plea after he heard the prosecution open the case against him.
Patrick O’Hara said ‘justice has been done’ after the sentencing. Pic: PA
Speaking after Kwan was sentenced, Mr O’Hara said he thinks “justice has been done” and thanked police and prosecutors.
“The sincerity and the professionalism they have shown has been amazing,” he added.
Police initially thought the GP used the chemical weapon ricin to try to kill Mr O’Hara, but an expert believed a pesticide was more likely.
The prosecution said Mr O’Hara had been a “potential impediment” to Kwan inheriting his mother’s estate upon her death.
Ms Leung had named the 72-year-old in her will to the effect that he could stay in her home in St Thomas Street, Newcastle, should she die before her partner.
This led to a strained relationship between Kwan and Ms Leung, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Thomas Kwan had forged letters to Mr O’Hara and stayed in a hotel under a fake name.
Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
The court previously heard how Kwan wrote to Mr O’Hara posing as the nurse, and how he had forged NHS documentation to set up the home visit.
He also used false number plates for the journey to Newcastle and booked a city centre hotel using a false name.
Speaking in court on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Lambert said the letters were “good forgeries,” and said Mr O’Hara and Ms Leung would not have had reason to suspect they were fake.
“By your masquerading, you struck at the heart of public confidence in the health care profession,” she told Kwan.
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In October, Mr Makepeace told Newcastle Crown Court that Mr O’Hara “had done absolutely nothing to offend Mr Kwan in any way whatsoever”.
It was noted that police were called to Ms Leung’s property after Kwan burst in uninvited in November 2022.
Prosecutors also described Kwan as “money-obsessed” and noted he installed spyware on his mother’s laptop to monitor her finances.
Mrs Justice Lambert then said Wednesday that Kwan was “certainly obsessed by money and more particularly, the money to which you considered yourself entitled”.
“Whatever the deep-rooted cause, by 2024 and well before,” she said, “your resentment and bitterness towards your mother and Mr O’Hara was all to do with money and your belief you were not being given money which you thought you were entitled to.”
The judge then said Kwan chose iodomethane – used in pesticides – as it would be difficult for medics to detect, and added the GP showed “distorted thinking,” a “morbid obsession” with toxic chemicals, and a “capacity for most extreme behaviour in order to meet your own needs”.
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When he attended his mother’s home last year, the court was told Kwan also checked Ms Leung’s blood pressure when she asked.
While Kwan administered the injection, Mr O’Hara shouted in pain. The GP told him the reaction was not uncommon while speaking in broken English using an Asian accent, and left the home quickly.
A day after the fake COVID jab, Mr O’Hara’s arm had become blistered and seriously discoloured as he developed necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease.
Officers were able to track Kwan – still in disguise – back to a city centre hotel and then to his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside.
They then discovered an array of dangerous chemicals which the GP had amassed in his garage.
Paul Greaney KC, defending, said on Wednesday that the GP was previously of positive good character and had “ruined his life”.
He described Kwan’s disguise, when he passed himself off as a nurse, as “amateurish” and “clumsy”.
Comedy writer Bill Dare, – who worked on shows including Spitting Image and Dead Ringers – has died after an accident overseas, his agent said.
Described as a “super producer” by his peers, Dare, 64, worked on eight series of hugely popular satire puppet show Spitting Image.
Airing on ITV during the 1980s and 1990s, the show delighted in lampooning public figures including politicians, celebrities and royalty, winning BAFTAs and Emmys. It was rebooted in 2020.
Dare also created Dead Ringers, a comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
He also produced The Now Show, a satirical take on the news which ran on Radio 4 from 1998 to 2024.
Dare worked on a wide range of comedy shows during his career, including the radio production of The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had also written several novels.
In a statement released on Monday, his agent JFL Agency confirmed he died at the weekend.
A spokesperson said: “We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss.
“Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.”
Oasis depicted on Spitting Image in 1996. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Colleagues were quick to pay tribute and reflect on his talent.
Impressionist Jon Culshaw wrote on X: “It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare. The wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend. Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say.”
David Baddiel posted on the social media platform: “Just heard that the original producer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio, Bill Dare, has died. Bill was an amazing creative force. I owe him much. RIP.”
Former EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was “devastated” and that her “entire comedy career was down to Bill”.
She wrote: “When I was on the BBC Radio 4 rep company early on in career – I ran into Bill in the corridors – He asked if I was good at accents. I said yes.
“He cast me in a sketch show. I had to do about 15 different accents. We recorded in front of a live audience at Broadcasting House – afterwards Bill said ‘Why have I never met you – you’re going to have a big career’.
“He was incredibly loyal and supportive and really opened a path for me into the R4 comedy world and then TV having come out of the RSC and theatre it was all new. I will always be grateful. Fly high Bill.”
Comedian and writer Mark Steel wrote: “This is so grim. Bill was a compassionate hearty soul with the ability to be beautifully grumpy, a marvellously thoughtful comic mind.
“He’d argue but always listen and you’d always laugh, he made a million shows and wanted them all to matter and would have made a million more.”
Have I Got News for You writer Pete Sinclair said: “I am utterly devastated by Bill’s death. I still can’t believe it. He was a comedy genius. A hugely talented writer as well as a brilliant producer. A close friend and co-writer. I cannot begin to say how much I’ll miss him.”
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Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends.
“Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.
“Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing.
“He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show.
“He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.
“I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.”
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