DR THOMAS Kwan made headlines on November 24, 2024, when he was jailed for his elaborate murder plot.
The doctor’s scheme to murder his mother’s partner will be explored in the Channel 5 programme Inheritance: Murder in the Family.
Kwan’s terrifying grudge
Kwan worked at the Happy House Surgery in Sunderland and shared a young son with his wife.
His mother Wai King Leung, known to friends as Jenny, had dated her partner Patrick O’Hara for 21 years by the time Dr Kwan began hatching his plot.
According to the prosecution, Kwan was “obsessed” with money and had installed spyware software on his mother’s laptop to track her finances.
He was furious when Jenny gave Patrick a share of her Newcastle home in her will in 2021, prompting him to make a chilling decision.
Kwan’s elaborate murder plot
Kwan created the persona of a community nurse named Raj Patel and travelled to Newcastle under a fake name.
He used tanning solutions, a face mask and a hat to hide his appearance and spoke with a fake accent.
On January 22, 2024, he arrived at his mother’s home under the pretence of giving Patrick a health check-up and a Covid booster.
However, Kwan injected Patrick with a deadly solution that induced the flesh-eating condition, necrotising fasciitis.
Patrick said that he felt an excruciating pain, but Kwan claimed this was normal before fleeing.
However, Patrick’s condition worsened and he was rushed to hospital, where doctors spent five weeks cutting diseased flesh from his arm.
Eventually, the police investigation allowed them to track Patel’s movements, leading to Kwan being unmasked.
Jenny had begun suspecting her son when police told her that the suspect’s height matched Kwan’s.
In court, Mrs Justice Lambert told Kwan: “Your resentment and bitterness towards your mother and Mr O’Hara was all to do with money.”
She added that he had a “shocking level of distorted thinking, a distinct sense of entitlement and capacity for the most extreme behaviour in order to meet your own needs”.
Kwan was sentenced to 31 years and five months in prison for his crime.
Inheritance: Murder in the Family
A documentary named Inheritance: Murder in the Family will explore the terrifying plot that Kwan spent months planning.
The show will air on Channel 5 on March 3, 2025.
Viewers who miss the show’s 10pm start will be able to catch up on My5.