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A yob who caused outrage by making a sick racist gesture at Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck during their clash with Chelsea was unmasked last night.

The Mirror tracked down Blues fanatic Gavin Kirkham, 28, who was caught on camera mimicking a monkey during the tense game at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

We traced the self-confessed “drunken menace” to his home in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, where he refused to talk to our reporter – just saying: “Get out of the way”, before scurrying inside.

He was found following our appeal on Twitter for the name of the man seen at the match and was “outed” by fellow supporters who were outraged by his disgraceful behaviour.

Both the Metropolitan Police and Chelsea have launched investigations into the shameful scenes which marred the game between the Stamford Bridge club and Manchester United, which the Blues won 5-4.

Kirkham, who lists himself as Drunken Menace on MySpace, says one of his favourite films is The Football Factory – a violent movie about Chelsea hooligans.

He was identified hours after furious Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich ordered club officials to track him down.

(Image: David Klein / Sportimage)

The billionaire Russian rarely gets involved in day-to-day matters at the West London club – preferring to leave it to a team of trusted lieutenants.

But with the club embroiled in a series of racism controversies – including an accusation that a ref made a racial comment against a player – Abramovich personally demanded Kirkham was identified and banned from the ground for life.

A source told the Mirror: “Roman is aware of the incident and is not happy.

"He has spoken to officials and told them he wants the person identified and never allowed inside Stamford Bridge again.”

Chelsea had already begun a probe into the shocking incident before Abramovich’s intervention and later contacted the Metropolitan Police.

Last night cops were preparing to arrest Kirkham on suspicion of using abusive or insulting words within the sight of a person likely to be caused distress.

He was caught on camera apparently making a monkey gesture from the front row of the Matthew Harding stand during the Capital One cup game.

In the photo, he appears to raise his hands up under his armpits to imitate a chimpanzee – while black Chelsea fans, including children, stand close by him.

(Image: David Klein / Sportimage)

United and England striker Welbeck is in the foreground – having moments earlier lost control of the ball on the touchline.

Incredibly some Chelsea fans went on internet forums yesterday claiming Kirkham was a “media plant” designed to discredit the club.

And one of Kirkham’s family members said: “I can’t believe he’s done it. He’s got black friends, Asian friends. He’s not a racist person.

"I know he wouldn’t have done that in a racist way.”

Paul Kearns, chief executive of Show Racism the Red Card, slammed the supposed supporter and welcomed Chelsea’s swift investigation.

He said: “We are incensed by this fan’s actions as much of the football community appear to be.”

The photographer who took the picture told the Mirror: “It was in the 28th minute of the game when Welbeck had mis-controlled the ball.

“He appeared to be making a monkey sign at Welbeck. It was a noisy bunch of fans in the corner.

"They gave Javier Hernandez a lot of grief after he scored. ”

It is understood Chelsea may have had CCTV cameras focused on that area of the crowd.

They are giving the Met full co-operation and insiders say they will be prepared to hand over any relevant footage to the police.

A Met Police spokesman said: “We can confirm we have received a complaint of alleged racist behaviour at Stamford Bridge.

"An investigation has been launched, there have been no arrests so far.”

The incident came hours after the club lodged a “race-row” complaint with the FA against Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg.