Disguised GP poison victim a 'shell' of himself

Thomas Kwan admitted attempted murder after his trial began

A man poisoned by his partner's GP son in a dispute over an inheritance has told a court he is a "shell" of his former self.

Thomas Kwan attempted to kill Patrick O'Hara by injecting him with a pesticide under the guise of giving a Covid booster jab, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Kwan, 53, disguised himself with a mask and glasses when he went to the victim's home in Newcastle in January having sent fabricated NHS letters to set the appointment up.

The GP initially denied attempted murder but changed his plea after his trial began, with prosecutors telling his sentencing hearing he should get a life term.

Kwan had been a respected GP working at Happy House Surgery in Sunderland, his trial heard.

In 2021 his mother, Wai King Leung also known as Jenny Leung, had created a will leaving a share in her home on St Thomas Street to her partner of 21 years Mr O'Hara.

On 22 January this year, Kwan went to the house pretending to be a community nurse and injected Mr O'Hara with a toxin, believed to be a pesticide called iodomethane, which led to the 71-year-old developing the flesh-eating disease necrotising fasciitis in his arm.

Thomas Kwan created a fake ID using the name Raj Patel which included a picture of himself wearing a false beard, moustache and wig

At the sentencing hearing, which opened on Thursday but will conclude at a later date, the court heard Mr O'Hara's relationship with Ms Leung had now "completely broken down".

During his 13 minute-long address, Mr O'Hara said he could "not believe" it when police told him Kwan had attempted to poison him.

He said he had felt an "excruciating pain" as soon as he was injected but still "trusted" his medical visitor when they said it was just an allergic reaction.

Thomas Kwan checked into a hotel under a false name near his mother's home the night before the attack, jurors heard

Mr O'Hara spent five weeks in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary and had to undergo multiple surgeries to have parts of his arm removed and several skin grafts, the court heard.

"I have been left a shell of an individual," Mr O'Hara said, adding: "I genuinely feel I have been to hell and back."

He said Kwan had "brought the NHS into disrepute" and had "flagrantly abused" being in the "ultimate position of trust" as a doctor.

Mr O'Hara said he was "petrified" of Kwan ever leaving prison and his scars were an "ever-lasting memory" of the attack.

A psychologist concluded Mr O'Hara had "severe post traumatic stress disorder" caused in part by the "emotional betrayal" of being attacked by someone he considered family, the court heard.

Thomas Kwan disguised himself with a face mask when he went to his mother's home to inject her partner

Arguing Kwan should get a life term, prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC said Kwan was "obsessed" with money and had a "sense of entitlement" over his inheritance.

The prosecutor said Kwan's "motive to kill was to remove an impediment to his inheritance" against a "background of resentment and family issues".

Mr Makepeace said Kwan already "felt snubbed" after not getting as much as he expected in his father's will and in that case had "forged" solicitors' letters and threatened his siblings to get what he saw as his "rightful inheritance".

Kwan felt Mr O'Hara, who was "entirely innocent", was "undeserving" of the share in his mother's home and it "struck at the very heart of [Kwan's] sense of entitlement", Mr Makepeace said.

He said Kwan was a man of "considerable means" living in a "substantial" detached home at Brading Court in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, and recently made a £2m offer for a house in the south of England.

Thomas Kwan lived in a "substantial" home in Ingleby Barwick

"It's not greed bred of shortage of money," Mr Makepeace said, adding: "It is a greed bred purely and simply of greed."

The prosecutor said Kwan's "distorted" view was further evidenced in letters he sent to his wife, with whom he has a young child, while on remand in prison.

In those, Kwan "bemoaned" the possibility of Mr O'Hara getting any compensation, saying in one: "One old man's compensation for three young lives ruined, where's the justice in that?"

Mr Makepace also said Kwan had spent months planning the attack, created fake companies to order toxic chemicals and amassed a collection of research materials, including manuals used by terrorists, to determine which poison would be best to use.

He said Kwan's garage was "stocked" with toxins, ingredients and equipment which could have had no other purpose other than to produce poisons including ricin.

Mr Makepeace's said Kwan's obsession with money was further illustrated by a computer he gave his mother in 2000 which was fitted with spyware so he could monitor all her online financial transactions.

"Here is a man who irrationally has harboured an intention to kill a man in the worst way imaginable," the prosecutor said, adding Kwan "planned it meticulously and had furnished himself with multiple methods of achieving that".

Thomas Kwan carried out the attack at his mother's home on St Thomas Street, the inheritance of which was also the motive

In mitigation, Paul Greaney KC said it was a "grave crime with serious consequences", but he said there were "mixed motives" for the "terrible schemes", not just financial gain.

He said Kwan had a "dysfunctional relationship" with his mother and felt she had not been treating him in the way he felt a son should be "entitled" to.

Kwan had expressed views that he wanted to get "revenge" on his mother by harming her partner, and had also said if he were to "remove [Mr O'Hara] from the picture" his relationship with Ms Leung "would improve", the court heard.

Mr Greaney said the 2021 would give Kwan 45% of his mother's "very considerable" estate, of which the house was only a part, and the killing of Mr O'Hara would not have benefitted him hugely.

Mr Greaney acknowledged there had been "subterfuge" and "substantial planning" but Kwan was "always going to be caught as a result of the amateurish nature" of some of his schemes.

Judge Mrs Justice Lambert said there was a "real hinterland of simmering resentment going back to childhood" between Kwan and his mother, the "focus" of which was "money".

She said she hopes to sentence Kwan in the next two weeks.