A top paediatric consultant who delegated a child’s operation to another surgeon told a medical inquiry into why the child had the wrong surgery first that he would have operated on her himself if he had known she was a private patient.

A toddler ended up having two mouth operations on the same day when the wrong procedure was carried out first at Our Lady’s Children Hospital, Crumlin a medical inquiry has heard.

Hopes that five-year-old British boy Sahil Saeed had been found were dashed today as the police chief leading the investigation in Pakistan confirmed the search is ongoing.