British doctor admits trying to kill mother's partner with fake Covid jab

A British doctor on Monday pleaded guilty to an audacious but unsuccessful plot to kill his mother's partner with a fake Covid-19 vaccine, which involved him forging medical documents and dressing in disguise to inject his victim with poison.

Thomas Kwan, 53, passed himself off as a nurse and even took his own mother's blood pressure before administering poison to her partner Patrick O'Hara in Newcastle, northern England.

O'Hara survived but suffered from necrotising faciitis, a potentially fatal flesh-eating bacterial infection, after receiving the jab, prosecutors said.

Kwan, a family doctor in Sunderland, pleaded guilty to attempted murder on Monday shortly after his trial began at Newcastle Crown Court last week, court staff said.

He had previously admitted a charge of administering a noxious substance.

Kwan checked into a hotel under a false name, used false number plates on his car and disguised himself with a wig to carry out the plan, Makepeace added.