Man filmed racially abusing woman on Ryanair flight is named as David Mesher

Footage posted on social media shows him calling 77-year-old Delsie Gayle, who is disabled, an “ugly f****** c***” and an “ugly black b******”.

The incident is believed to have taken place on Ryanair flight FR015 at Barcelona Airport on 19 October, before it departed for London Stansted.

The budget airline reported the matter to Essex Police after video of the rant was shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook.

Mesher, who lives in a sheltered retirement housing block in Birmingham, declined to comment to reporters outside his home.

Footage of the incident was recorded by another passenger, David Lawrence, who criticised fellow passengers for not intervening – though one man on the row behind Mesher tried to stop him from being abusive.

At the beginning of the video, the woman’s daughter can be heard telling Mesher her mother is disabled.

He replied: “I don’t care whether she’s f****** disabled or not – if I tell her to get out she gets out.”

Mr Lawrence said: “I looked around to see if there was going to be a response from the public, I didn’t hear any.

“I saw smirks and giggles going on.”

He added: “Eventually someone [a crew member] came down and moved the woman from her seat and placed her further back, leaving the man sitting by himself.”

A Ryanair spokesman told Sky News: “We have reported this to the police in Essex and as this is now a police matter, we cannot comment further.”

Essex Police said the force was contacted on 21 October “about a racially aggravated incident happening on a Ryanair plane while on the tarmac at Barcelona Airport”.

“Since the report was made to us our officers have identified both parties involved and are progressing a number of inquiries,” the force said.

“There are agreed national protocols to follow when incidents are reported to have happened in another country. As such, we will be conducting an investigation to submit to the Spanish authorities in due course.”