Mystery still surrounds man charged with applying for passport in name of long deceased infant

Mystery continues to surround a man who has refused to identify himself after being charged with supplying false information and applying for a passport in the name of an infant who died more than 70 years ago, a court has heard.

The man has identified himself as Philip Morris and is charged with an offence under that name. However, gardaí told Cork District Court on Tuesday they are satisfied the man is not Philip Morris and that they have not yet been able to establish his identity.

The accused was charged with two offences when he appeared in court last week. He is accused of providing false information in relation to a passport application on a date between September 12th and 25th, 2012, and with doing the same on June 7th, 2022 at the Passport Office, South Mall, Cork.

It is alleged that the accused provided information which was false or misleading in a material respect, which he knew or believed to be false or misleading, or was reckless as to whether it was false or misleading.

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Died aged four months

Det Garda Padraic Hanley, of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said gardaí have established through international enquiries that the accused is not Philip Frank Morris, as he claimed, as Philip Frank Morris died in 1952 aged four months.

“We have made extensive enquiries. He is not Philip Frank Morris. He died at four months old. We have interviewed his brother. We are making enquiries internationally with Interpol all over the world. We have a raft of enquiries going on at this stage,” he said.

Frank Buttimer, solicitor for the accused, put it to Det Garda Hanley for the purpose of clarification that “the person that you believe is Philip Frank Morris is (a) deceased and (b) not this person here” and that the force is continuing its enquiries “to establish who this gentleman may be”.

Mr Buttimer asked Det Garda Hanley how long it was anticipated the enquiries would take because his client was “not in his first flush of youth”. The detective replied that it was impossible to say. “It could be tomorrow, it could be two weeks. I feel there will be further charges as well.”

Refused to assist

When the man was first charged last week, Det Garda Hanley said he arrested the man at the Passport Office on September 14th. When questioned, he said he was living in Ireland and needed the passport to leave the country but refused to assist gardaí further.

Det Garda Hanley told the earlier court sitting that the man “held an Irish passport for 30 years but only recently obtained a PPS number”. He said gardaí “don’t know who this gentleman is” but they had obtained birth and death certificates in relation to the Philip Morris he claimed to be.

Judge Olann Kelleher said on Tuesday that the investigation appeared to be moving swiftly, even without the co-operation of the accused, who he remanded in continuing custody to appear again at Cork District Court on October 3rd.