Left: Thomas Kwan. Right: Kwan in disguise when he poisoned his mother’s partner (Northumbria Police).
A doctor in the United Kingdom admitted to trying to kill his mother’s partner by poisoning him in an elaborate scheme that included a disguise and fake paperwork.
The Northumbria Police Department said in a press release that 53-year-old Thomas Kwan pleaded guilty to attempted murder on Monday in the middle of his trial. According to police, Kwan sent the man fake medical letters claiming he was set to have a COVID booster. Disguised in a wig and fake facial hair while wearing a medical mask, Kwan went to the man’s home on Jan. 22. Kwan concealed himself well enough that his mom and her partner, who is in his 70s, did not recognize him. He then administered the shot to the victim.
Prosecutors during the trial said the injection was not a COVID booster, but a flesh-eating chemical, according to The Guardian. Kwan reportedly concocted the scheme because he was concerned that he was losing his inheritance from his mom.
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Not long after receiving the jab, the man “became seriously unwell” and had to be admitted to the hospital. He showed them the letters he received about the injection, and the hospital staff immediately realized they were fake. They called the cops.
“The victim has since had to have numerous operations, including skin grafts to repair the extensive damage the poisoning caused to his body,” police wrote. “He has been left with life-changing injuries following the incident.”
Officers later discovered Kwan used fake license plates when he drove from his home to a hotel in Newcastle in the early hours of Jan. 22. Following his arrest, investigators found a “poisoner’s handbook” and a book about murder investigations on his computer.
“Several files regarding poisons to kill a person and ideal poisons to use to evade detection were also uncovered on his computer,” cops wrote.
Detectives also discovered that Kwan had installed spying software on his mom’s computer as “a way of monitoring her and her then partner’s computer usage for a period of over a year.”
Kwan will be sentenced at a later time.
The officer in charge of the case, Det. Chief Inspector Jason Henry, of Northumbria police praised the victim in the case.
“He has been through a horrendous ordeal and his life has been changed forever,” he said. “He has shown incredible strength throughout the investigation and we will continue to support him in any way that we can.”
Henry called Kwan’s actions “utterly despicable.”
“He used his experience as a doctor to deceive the victim into thinking the medical appointment he had arranged was genuine before administering the poison which has caused him unimaginable pain and suffering,” said Henry.
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