Man who drank kill-plot GP's poison-laced vodka says he and his family could have died

A DAD-OF-FOUR who fell victim to poison plot Sunderland GP Thomas Kwan has told how he feared for his life after drinking vodka laced with the poison thallium.

- By JEREMY ARMSTRONG (PA) AND SAM VOLPE

Patrick O'Hara

Torquil Gundlach, from Edinburgh, has told how he fell ill after drinking the Smirnoff Red Label laced with thallium, which was banned as a rat poison due to its high toxicity.

Torquil’s father-in-law is Patrick O'Hara, who had been targeted by the murderous GP in a row over his inheritance.

Kwan had targeted Mr O'Hara by sending him poisoned bottles of booze from a fake “wine and drinks club”

Torquil’s hair fell out after drinking the vodka - and his father-in-law also suffered hair loss.

Kwan then dressed up in disguise as a Covid nurse to administer a poisonous pesticide to Mr O'Hara, 72, which almost killed him. The older man unwittingly gave a poisoned bottle of vodka to Torquil, 51, a project manager, who fell ill after drinking it.

Kwan has pleaded guilty to a second attempt to murder Patrick, who at the time of the plot was partner of Kwan's mother Jenny Leung, and administering the noxious substance to Torquil.

He has also now been struck off the medical register - despite bizarrely claiming his actions were “an isolated, unprecedented mistake”.

Torquil, 51, said: “It was a traumatic time. If anything, I feel sorrow for Thomas Kwan.

“He has ruined his life and the lives of his family.

“It was bad enough trying to kill my father-in-law, but he could have killed me and my entire family.

“I felt poorly the next day after drinking the vodka.