Former GP admits further murder attempt on mother’s partner using poisoned wine

An ex-GP serving life for trying to poison his mother’s partner with a fake Covid jab has admitted another plot to kill him by sending him wine laced with a highly toxic metal.

Thomas Kwan, who is already serving a minimum term of 31 years for the attempted murder of 73-year-old Patrick O’Hara, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court to admit a previous plan to kill him after setting up a fake wine club.

Kwan, formerly a GP in Sunderland, also admitted administering a noxious substance to Torquil Gundlach, who also consumed some of the wine which was laced with thallium, while the GP intended to injure Mr O’Hara.

The 54-year-old contacted Mr O’Hara via the fictitious Northern Wine and Drinks Tasting Gentlemen’s Club and sent him between 18 and 21 bottles, some of which were poisoned.

Mr O’Hara drank some of the bottles and gifted one to Mr Gundlach.

The wine plot spanned September 2022 to January 2024 – when Kwan carried out his Covid jab plot.

Peter Makepeace KC, prosecuting, said two bottles recovered contained poison and there was evidence that a third, which was laced with thallium, caused Mr O’Hara to fall ill.

Mr Makepeace said 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 added: “Genuine bottles were sent to lure the victim into a sense of security.”

He told the court that the wine club Kwan created “does not exist”.

Kwan, who appeared via a videolink to the maximum security HMP Frankland, will be sentenced on January 30.

The Hong Kong-born doctor was jailed for life in November at the same court after he admitted plotting to kill Mr O’Hara in what the sentencing judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, called an “audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight”.

Kwan sent two fake letters with NHS logos, hyperlinks and even a QR code, offering Mr O’Hara 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.

Mr O’Hara 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.

Mr O’Hara 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 Mr O’Hara to stay in her home should she die 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 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 Mr O’Hara 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 murder, 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.”