Grandad tells how 'life changed forever' after murder attempt by Sunderland GP Dr Thomas Kwan

Dr Thomas Kwan injected 71-year-old Patrick O'Hara with poison during a visit to his home on St Thomas Street in Newcastle, which he shared with the medic's mother Jenny Leung.

During a 45-minute stay, disguised by a mask and glasses, he remained undetected by his own mum and Mr O'Hara, who ended up needing "very considerable portions" of his arm flesh removed.

Mr O'Hara, who said the attack should have been the "end of me", said he was caused excruciating pain, spent five weeks in hospital, faces ongoing treatment and has been to "hell and back".

Prosecutors at Newcastle Crown Court have described the case as "extraordinary" and "exceptional in gravity of preparation and premeditation" and was focused on money.

Peter Makepeace KC told the court Kwan had an "obsession with money", felt an "entitlement to money" and had previously forged legal documents in relation to the share he received of his father's will.

Mr Makepeace said Kwan had a "meticulous" plan to kill his mum's innocent partner so he could get her inheritance, despite already having his own money and told the court: "Kwan had a wealthy lifestyle, he had made an offer on a property in the South of England for £2m."

The court heard even after Kwan was remanded in custody over the attempted killing, his letters to his wife still "largely centered on financial matters".

Mr Makepeace said a "chilling feature" of the correspondence was when Kwan referred to Mr O'Hara's potential entitlement to compensation, where he said: "One old man's compensation for three young lives ruined, where's the justice in that?"

The court heard when Kwan's garage was raided by police they found it was stocked with poisons such as arsenic, a recipe to make deadly ricin and chemicals, which could have caused an explosion.

Mr Makepeace said: "Here is a man who irrationally has harboured an intention to kill a man in the worst imaginable way.

"He planned it meticulously and has furnished himself with multiple methods of achieving that.

"It cannot be determined otherwise than that he presents a danger to the public generally."

Kwan, of Brading Court, Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and administering a noxious substance.

The 52-year-old, who worked at a doctors surgery in Sunderland, had forged NHS documents, hid his face, and used false number plates to carry out his killer plan to injected Mr O'Hara with iodomethane, a type of pesticide.

Mr O'Hara felt immediate pain in his arm but his concerns were eased by Kwan who told him the discomfort would ease.

But his condition deteriorated and the pensioner was left fighting for his life in hospital as he battled a rare flesh-eating infection caused by the jab.

Mr Makepeace said Kwan and his mother had a "strained relationship" partly caused by her son's expected inheritance from her.

Her will stated her home would be passed over to Mr O'Hara should he die before him.

Paul Greaney KC, defending GP Thomas Kwan, told the court there were "mixed motives" behind the attempted murder.

Mr Greaney said: "This terrible scheme did not have as its sole focus financial gain but was much more generally influenced by his feelings about his relationship with his mother and the way she had treated him.

"It's not just financial gain, other things are happening." Mr Greaney added: "There is little to extenuate offending as grave as this. 

"He is entitled to ask you to take into account the fact he, at the age of 53, has no previous convictions, the fact he is a local GP and he should be regarded as having been of positive good character and thirdly it is plain he is not going to have an easy time in prison." 

Mr Greaney said probation officials have assessed Kwan to pose a "medium risk to his own mother". 

Prosecutors have applied for Kwan to be ordered to pay more than £25,000 in court costs, which will be decided at a later date. 

Mrs Justice Lambert will sentence Kwan at a future date, which has not been fixed.

Mr O'Hara’s speech in full

"I have worked hard all my life and have never intentionally caused harm to anyone and have always strived to help people when I can.

"For 14 years I had worked as an Environmental Analyst, which required me to survey buildings which were known to contain asbestos.

"In conducting this role, health and safety was always at the forefront of my mind, always ensuring that my team and I were protected by ensuring that we were wearing the correct PPE equipment to maximise the safety of all persons present.

"As a result of doing this occupation, I was required to go for yearly checkups, ensuring that X-rays were conducted on my lungs and that my general health and welfare were as good as could be.

"Looking back on my medical history I never smoked, I never took drugs and didn't so much as suffer with hayfever.

"Late 2019, the country went into lockdown due to Covid and I, like millions of others members of the public, placed our personal health and safety in the hands of the government and the NHS to ensure that the vaccines that were being developed were being administered for our benefit.

"I recall that I would go to the Centre for Life and Boots, together with the rest of the public, in order to be inoculated by health care professionals, as I believed that I would be safer and healthier by having this vaccine.

"During November 2023, I received a letter which I trusted and believed was from the NHS, informing me that I was a priority for a care home visit, in order to have a covid booster.

"This was again followed up in early January 2024 with an additional letter from the NHS, confirming the necessity of me requiring the covid booster and that a health care professional would attend on Monday January 22

"At roughly 9.45 on Monday January 22 my life completely changed forever. This is a date that I will never forget as long as I shall live.

"On this date, a male attended my home address, under the guise of a health care professional administering a covid injection and injected me with a devastating toxic chemical, whilst all the time having me believe that the injection was needed for my health and welfare.

"I remember that when that needle entered my arm, I felt instant, excruciating pain, I had never in my life felt anything that painful before. I instantly thought that something had gone wrong. However, the reply from the physician was that I must have been having an allergic reaction.

"I trusted him saying that it was an allergic reaction as this person was a professional, he took the time to attend my home address, he worked for the NHS and therefore he was here, in my home, in order to give me the best possible care. I invited him into my place of safety and he was there for my benefit.

"At no point in time was I ever under the impression that this person portraying to be a health care professional was in fact my partner at the time's son Thomas.

"In the days that followed, as a direct result of being injected by Thomas, I had to attend my GP as my left arm was suffering in a way that was causing a huge concern. It felt like it was on fire.

"I was given various medications to ease the pain and antibiotics to combat the possible infections. None of these medications worked.

"I was then immediately admitted to the high dependency unit within the RVI hospital, where I remained for a week, prior to being moved to Ward 47 for a further four weeks.

"The doctors at the RVI informed me that I had had been diagnosed with necrotising fascilitis and that my body was suffering from a 'flesh eating' disease.

"In order to cure this disease, I underwent three separate operations, which required surgeons to cut away large parts of my left arm to ensure that all the signs of the disease had been removed so that it wouldn't continue to spread.

"In addition, I had to undertake two separate skin grafts, which involved removing the skin from my left thigh and placing it on my injured arm.

"I was informed by doctors at the time that skin grafts were very susceptible to infections and that quite often skin grafts wouldn't take to the body first time round, therefore the notion of me having to potentially endure additional operations in order to be cured was causing me endless nights of sleep, due to worry

"In total, I spent over five weeks in hospital, I can honesty say that there were never a day that went past when I did not feel in pain.

"Upon being discharged from hospital, I had to endure that I conducted my own physiotherapy to help rebuild the lost muscle and tissue mass which had been removed from my body.

"I had to do this every day for one-and-a-half hours, while in addition to applying E45 cream daily to assist with the healing and soothing of my arm.

"Overall, this incident should have been the end of me. The nature of what occurred to my body has left me speechless.

"Had it not been for medical intervention I am positive that not only would I have lost my left arm but my life as well.

"In stark contrast, I am amazed at how resilient the human body is. I managed to recover quite well from the surgeries and even managed to get back to playing some rounds of golf.

"However, approximately two months ago my health took a huge downturn whereby I lost one-and-a-half stone in weight, I lost almost all my hair literally overnight.

"I began to hallucinate in addition to numerous other ailments.

"My referring doctor informed me that he was of the opinion that these latest medical ailments were as a result of delayed stress response from the incident occurring on January 22 and at present I am again being referred to additional departments to assist in finding a cure.

"As a result of these incidents I have been left a shell of an individual. I suffer from extreme fatigue. Every time I get changed I am aware of the disfigurement to my arm which is an everlasting memory of the attack on me and this in addition has shattered my self confidence

"I am now very wary of health visitors and letters addressed from the NHS. I find it extremely hard to come back from the relaxed mindset that I once loved and cherished and this has left me constantly on edge with a poorer quality of life.

"As a result of the this incident, I now live back with my daughter and her family as I genuinely feel safer. But I feel incredibly guilty and fearful that some day Thomas will be released from prison and I am petrified that he will cause harm to my loved ones as a result of me assisting the police in his prosecution.

"I genuinely struggle to talk about this situation and this has impacted the close relationships that I have with my family.

"I remember when I was lying on the bed in the RVI police visited me and informed me that they had arrested Thomas for the attack on myself. I couldn't believe it, some part of me didn't want to believe it and then to be informed that he had been charged with the offence of attempted murder made my thoughts spiral out of control. I have always thought what would I say to him, should the opportunity arise.

"I genuinely feel as if I have been to hell and back. Thomas will never comprehend or know what it's like to suffer in the manner of which I am.

"I would like for the court to take into consideration the full range of suffering that not only I but my family have had to endure this past year. Not just the physical but mental scarring that will never leave me.

"I genuinely believe that from his perspective he only wished for his actions to impact one person by start contrast this has effected a huge amount of personnel, not just my family, the hospital staff, emergency services, he has brought the NHS into disrepute, from my perspective he was in the ultimate position of trust, countless individuals each and every day place their trust in doctors to do the right thing, to carry out their duties as per the training and other that they have undertaken.

"I will never get over the anxiety and pain that he has caused me and my family.

"The trial's verdict has been a deeply emotional time for me, for our entire family. My family, including my grandchildren, are facing the constant threat of media intrusion and the distressing details of the case. While we are all relived that Thomas has pleaded guilty, acknowledging his actions and potential consequences, it's still a difficult reality to confront. I'm immensley proud of their resilience and support.

"This episode in my life has made me realise what an amazing family I have around me. If they were not here to assist I genuinely would be a mess.

"They've remained positive, continued to encourage me to get better, transported me to each and every hospital appointment , to name but a few.

"I genuinely feel as if I've been in hospital enough times in the last 8 months to last most people a lifetime.

"I used to lie in bed thinking 'can I do this anymore? 'It's getting too much'

"But from the moment I would wake up in the morning, to the moment I would go to sleep, Theresa my partner would be there supporting me with each and every step I took.

"I can never thank her enough. Thank you Theresa."