GP convicted after injecting man with flesh-eating toxin during fake covid vaccination

A Sunderland doctor has been convicted of attempting to kill his mother’s partner, after injecting him with a toxin that caused a flesh-eating disease during a faked COVID vaccine appointment.

Thomas Kwan, 48, of Brading Court, Ingleby Barwick, pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted murder today at Newcastle Crown Court, in relation to an elaborate plot that culminated in him injecting his victim with an as-yet unconfirmed toxin, causing life-changing injuries.

In November 2023, Kwan sent a forged NHS-headed letter to his victim, claiming that his age qualified him for a nursing visit at the address he shared with Kwan’s mother in Newcastle.  This was followed up by another letter, stating that a vaccine appointment with a member of a home nursing team had been made for him. The home nursing team was itself a work of fiction, created by Kwan to facilitate his scheme.

Kwan attended the fake appointment in January of this year, disguised as a nurse. He was dressed head-to-toe in protective clothing, with his face obscured by a clinical mask and his eyes hidden behind tinted glasses.

After conducting a medical questionnaire with his victim and taking the man’s blood pressure, Kwan then injected his arm with an unknown substance. When the man complained of pain in his arm, Kwan provided reassurances before gathering his things and hurriedly leaving the scene.

Christopher Atkinson, Head of the Complex Casework Unit for CPS North East, said: “Thomas Kwan went to highly unusual lengths in his attempts to kill his mother’s partner while avoiding detection. Over several months, he obsessively planned a way of gaining access to his victim, which involved the use of counterfeit documents, a shell company and elaborate disguises to obscure the potentially lethal role he was to play in these events.

“While the attempt on his victim’s life was thankfully unsuccessful, the effects were still catastrophic. The chemical injected caused increasingly severe damage, beginning with burns and blisters around the injection site and progressing into a potentially life-threatening flesh-eating disease.

“At a time when Kwan could have assisted medical staff by identifying this substance, he instead made no comment to the questions put to him in police interview, allowing the victim’s health to further deteriorate.

“We would like to praise the work of our partners in Northumbria and Cleveland Police forces, who conducted an outstanding investigation into what has been one of the most elaborate criminal plots in recent memory. The key evidence they have provided has been instrumental in helping the Crown Prosecution Service build a robust case against Kwan.

“It is testament to both the strength of this case and the overwhelming evidence against him that Kwan has pleaded guilty to the charge of attempted murder today.”

“Our thoughts remain with his victim at what remains a difficult time, and we sincerely hope that the conviction of his attacker today can provide him with some measure of comfort.”