Surgeon fails to have his passport returned

An emergency room surgeon who booked a flight from Cork to return to work in Portland, Oregon, failed to get his passport back from gardaí yesterday in a case where he is accused of dangerous driving causing the death of a woman in Cork.

Cedric Simpson, aged 50, has been on bail at Cork District Court having previously lodged €10,000 cash and adhered to other bail conditions.

However, when Mr Simpson returned to Cork District Court yesterday indicating he had booked a flight home to return to work pending a further adjournment of the case, there was an objection from the prosecution to the passport being returned to the accused.