A former medical doctor who tried to poison his mum’s boyfriend with a fake Covid jab has also admitted to sending him wine laced with a highly toxic metal.
Thomas Kwan, who is already serving a life sentence, has now admitted to a second plot to k!ll Patrick O’Hara, 73, by setting up a fake wine club.
Kwan, 54, contacted Patrick through his fake Northern Wine and Drinks Tasting Gentlemen’s Club and sent him between 18 and 21 bottles between September 2022 and January 2024.
But some of the drinks were poisoned with toxic metal thallium in the hopes the beverage would k!ll Patrick.
Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, said two bottles recovered contained poison and there was evidence that a third, which was laced with thallium, caused Patrick to fall ill.
Mr Makepeace added not all of the bottles were found to contain poison as Mr O’Hara would have swiftly fallen ill, “quickly bringing the scheme to a halt”.
He said: “Genuine bottles were sent to lure the victim into a sense of security.”
He drank some of the bottles and gifted one to friend Torquil Gundlach who also consumed the toxic drink.
During the months Patrick was receiving the poisoned wine, Kwan was also carrying out his fake Covid jab plot, which he is serving 31 years for.
The Hong Kong-born doctor admitted the vaccination plot in what the sentencing judge called an “audacious plan to murd£r a man in plain sight”.
Kwan sent two fake letters with NHS logos, hyperlinks and even a QR code, offering Patrick a home visit from a community nurse which he carried out in January 2024.
Kwan turned up in disguise at the couple’s home in central Newcastle and carried out a health check before administering a fake Covid vaccine, which was in reality the iodomethane, a poison used in pesticides and which is difficult to detect.
Patrick felt a sharp pain and Kwan quickly fled.
His victim went through a horrific hospital ordeal as medics fought to save his life without knowing the make-up of the poison.
Patrick needed to undergo plastic surgery after he developed a flesh-eating disease and the attempt on his life left him “a shell of an individual”, he said in a victim statement at the time.
Sentencing last year, Mrs Justice Lambert said: “His emotional reaction is due in part to his disbelief that this terrible act could be perpetrated by the son of his partner under the guise of a trusted health professional.”
Kwan was effectively estranged from his mother, Jenny Leung, after falling out over money.
He was angry after he found out that his mother had made a will which allowed Patrick to stay in her home should she di£ before him.
The couple have split up since her son’s attempt on his life.
Officers scoured CCTV and were able to track Kwan, still disguised as a nurse, back to a city centre hotel and then to his home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside.
In his garage they discovered an array of dangerous chemicals which the general practitioner (GP) had amassed.
On his computer they found the instructions on how to make the chemical weapon ricin.
It was first thought he had used ricin on Patrick but a poisons expert said iodomethane was more likely.
Northumbria Police announced last month that Kwan faced two further charges.
Kwan was struck off the medical register following a hearing of the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service in September.
Tribunal chair Gerry Wareham said: “The tribunal had no doubt that a sanction of erasure was the only outcome that would adequately mark the seriousness of the conviction, protect the public, maintain public confidence in the profession and promote and maintain proper standards of conduct for members of the profession.”
A three-day long hearing heard how Kwan sent a document to the tribunal which set out how he regretted pleading guilty to attempted murd£r, saying he intended to appeal and explaining that the poisoning of Mr O’Hara – who was referred to as Mr A in the hearing – was an “isolated, unintended mistake”.
But, when he addressed the tribunal over a link from prison, he also apologised, saying: “I just wanted to say that I sincerely apologise to Mr A, his family, my ex-colleagues, my family and everybody who’s been affected by my actions.”
He said: “I accept the sanction being placed upon me by the tribunal. I have nothing further to say.”
