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Ryanair racist David Mesher has denied he is a racist and offered an apology to his victim Delsie Gayle.

In footage which shocked the nation the 70-year-old was seen calling Delsie an "ugly black bastard" and then shouted at her not to speak to him in a foreign language on a Ryanair plane in Spain.

Speaking to GMB a day after being spoken to by police he said: "I probably lost my temper a bit and ordered her to get up," he said, adding that he "absolutely" regrets his behaviour.

"I'm not a racist person by any means and it's just a fit of temper at the time, I think," he continued."I apologise for all the distress you've had there and since."

But Ms Gayle and her daughter Carol Gayle rejected the apology over the language used on the plane from Barcelona to London on October 19.

Asked if she accepts the apology, Delsie Gayle said: "I don't think so. You must forget and forgive but it's going to take a long time for me to get over what he has done to me."

Her daughter added: "He says he wasn't racist, he wouldn't be saying words like that if he wasn't racist."

Two officers from West Midlands Police were seen on Wednesday arriving at sheltered retirement housing in Birmingham, after the entrance had been guarded by a security guard.

Mesher was identified on Tuesday night as the man who was filmed racially abusing a fellow passenger on a Ryanair flight.

A video of the 70-year-old calling the elderly woman a "ugly black bastard" - as well as shouting "don't talk to me in a foreign language, you stupid ugly cow" went viral this week.

Police spent just under an hour at the property before leaving without Mr Mesher.

(Image: ITV) (Image: Anita Maric / SWNS.com)

When questioned on why their officers had attended the premises, a spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: "West Midlands Police officers are assisting Essex Police who have the primary investigation."

It comes after more than 230,000 people have signed a petition calling for Ryanair to compensate and apologise to the victim.

(Image: Anita Maric / SWNS.com)

A petition has been set up asking the airline to apologise both directly and publicly and to compensate Delsie, and attracted nearly a quarter of a million signatures in 24 hours.

The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, branded Mesher a "shameless rude racist" and vowed to help bring him to justice.

The shocking incident was captured by Kent resident David Lawrence, who uploaded it to social media.

Neighbours at his sheltered accommodation in Birmingham - where he moved from Barking, east London - called him a "racist pig and bully".

Another said the pensioner would blare out classical music and ignore their pleas to turn it down.