Hong Kong-born doctor jailed for 31 years in UK for murder attempt with toxin-laced jab

A Hong Kong-born doctor has been jailed for more than 31 years in Britain for attempting to murder his mother’s partner by disguising himself as a nurse and injecting his victim with a poison-laced fake vaccine in a row over an inheritance.

Thomas Kwan, 53, was sentenced to 31 years and five months in prison on Wednesday for what judge Christina Lambert at Newcastle Crown Court described as “an audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight”.

Retiree Patrick O’Hara, 71, was injected with a pesticide administered by Kwan under the guise of being given a Covid-19 booster jab in January.

O’Hara, a former environmental analyst, later developed a flesh-eating disease on his arm, with part of it needing to be amputated and he spent a week in a high-dependency unit in hospital.

The victim had been in a relationship with Kwan’s mother, Jenny Leung, for more than two decades and she was said to have named him in her will so he could stay in her house in Newcastle city centre if she died before him.