The 45-year-old doctor whose lifeless body was found at his Sliema residence yesterday had been planning a trip to Germany, Norway and Denmark later this month to visit his daughter.

In a court application which was filed just five days before he was found dead, the Montenegrin doctor - who was out on bail after being accused of stealing medicine from the Gozo hospital - asked the court to grant him permission to go abroad and to excuse him from signing the bail book during the specified period.

The application states that he wished to "travel to Germany, Norway and Denmark to visit his daughter, amongst other commitments" from May 23 until June 12.

Hotel and flight bookings had been made long before he had been arrested, the application notes, going on to list the flight and hotel bookings, including a cruise of the Norwegian fjords which had been booked for June.

The application notes that the prosecuting officer did not seem to have any objection to his request to travel. The doctor also did not have a problem in giving the necessary guarantees, including the deposit of a sum of money within the courts, in order to assure his presence in Malta to face the charges brought before him.

In a reply presented in the name of the Police Commissioner, the prosecution had objected to the doctor being granted leave to travel due to the risk of him absconding and refusing to return to the island for the continuation of the criminal proceedings.

The Gozo hospital doctor had been accused of stealing a painkilling drug normally administered to women in labour.

The prosecution had said that the doctor had been found in possession of several boxes of pethidine - a synthetic compound used as a painkilling drug, especially for women in labour - bearing the mark of the Health Department.

Police Inspector Edel Mary Camilleri had told the court that the defendant had failed to give a convincing explanation of how he had come into possession of the boxes.

The doctor, who had practised medicine in Malta for over nine years, was charged with stealing medicinal items and with possessing a scheduled drug without the necessary authorisation or permission, without evidence that it was for his personal use. He denied all the charges.

He had been granted bail but was found dead yesterday at his residence in Triq in-Nazzarenu, Sliema.

The police said his colleagues had raised the alarm when he failed to report for work in the morning. The police went to his house and found the man dead after they forced their way in.

An autopsy and an inquiry are being held. No foul play is being suspected.