A doctor in the United Kingdom admitted this week to attempting to kill his mother’s partner with a fake COVID-19 vaccine.
British prosecutors allege that Thomas Kwan posed as a community nurse offering booster shots and injected 72-year-old Patrick O’Hara with a dangerous substance, likely a pesticide. O’Hara later developed a rare flesh-eating disease, which resulted in his hospitalization and intensive care. According to prosecutors, O’Hara was next in line for the mother’s inheritance behind her son, Kwan.
Kwan, 53, initially pleaded not guilty to attempted murder but reversed his plea after prosecutors presented their evidence at Newcastle Crown Court in northeast England, ultimately changing his plea to guilty.
During a trial, prosecutor Thomas Makepeace described Kwan as a “respected and experienced” family doctor from Sunderland, located roughly 15 miles from Newcastle. Makepeace told the court that Kwan leveraged his “encyclopedic knowledge” of poisons in a scheme to kill O’Hara. Makepeace also alleged that Kwan saw O’Hara as “a potential impediment” to inheriting his mother’s estate.
A healthcare worker at the Jackson Health Systems receives a Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine from Jackson Health Systems, at the Jackson Memorial Hospital on December 15, 2020, in Miami, Florida. On Monday, a British man admitted to trying to kill his mother’s partner using a fake COVID-19 vaccine.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
According to Makepeace, Kwan went to great lengths to conceal his identity, such as forging documents, using a car with fake license plates and disguising himself in full protective gear—complete with tinted glasses and a surgical mask. In January, he visited the Newcastle home where O’Hara lived with Kwan’s mother, Jenny Leung.
“As I suspect, would any of us, Mr. O’Hara fell for it hook, line and sinker,” Makepeace said during the trial.
Makepeace detailed how the following day, suffering from severe pain and blisters on his arm, O’Hara sought medical attention at a hospital. Doctors diagnosed him with necrotizing fasciitis, a life-threatening infection. To prevent the disease from spreading, surgeons had to remove part of his arm, and O’Hara remained in intensive care for several weeks.
Kwan was identified through surveillance camera footage, leading police to search his home. There, authorities discovered a stockpile of dangerous chemicals, including arsenic, liquid mercury and castor beans—the last of which can used to produce the deadly poison ricin.
Authorities have yet to determine the exact substance involved in the incident.
Christopher Atkinson from the Crown Prosecution Service stated that Kwan refused to reveal the type of poison used. Atkinson said that Kwan’s refusal allowed “the victim’s health to further deteriorate.”
“While the attempt on his victim’s life was thankfully unsuccessful, the effects were still catastrophic,” Atkinson said.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
