The father accused of causing the deaths of his two young children after they were left in a vehicle in Xylofagou is seeking permission to travel to Bulgaria to attend their funeral, with the Sovereign Base Areas court due to consider the request later this month.

During a hearing on Thursday, defence lawyer Michael Theodoulou told the court the defence intends to apply for bail and to allow his client to travel for the funeral, although he was not yet in a position to say whether the application would be filed immediately or next week.

A separate hearing has been scheduled for July 30 to consider his request to travel to Bulgaria.

Senior Judge Cummings KC, who presided over Thursday’s hearing by video conference and will oversee the remainder of the proceedings, also set September 22 as the date for the defendant to enter his plea.

By then, the prosecution is expected to have served all of its evidence on the defence. The defendant will be required to plead guilty or not guilty to the charge against him.

Should he plead not guilty, the trial is due to begin on November 30, although the judge said the timetable could be brought forward if both parties requested it.

Cummings also noted that, unlike in England and Wales where bail applications are generally heard in private, proceedings on the British bases follow different rules. Any further bail application listed with the trial proceedings on November 30 would therefore be heard in open court.

The case relates to the deaths of two boys, aged eight and ten, who were found unresponsive after being left in a parked vehicle in Xylofagou in June. Their father, 30-year-old Bulgarian national Marinos Marinov, was remanded. The boy’s stepmother was initially also detained but was later released.

At an earlier hearing, the court refused bail, ruling that the proposed sureties were not substantial enough to address the risk that the defendant might abscond before trial.

The case is now expected to move to its next substantive stage at the plea hearing in September, unless the court timetable is brought forward at the request of both parties.