Ryanair flier may ‘get away with’ racist rant

A RYANAIR passenger who launched a racist tirade may “get away with it” due to the airline wanting to get the plane off the ground, it has been claimed.

A video of an unnamed man racially abusing Delsie Gayle, 77, on a flight from Barcelona to London Stansted, emerged online last week. It showed the man calling Ms Gayle an “ugly black b------”, and shouting “don’t talk to me in a foreign language”.

Yesterday Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, urged police to take action.

However, an MP raised fears last night that the man may escape justice due to a confusion over which authority is responsible for tracking him down.

Karl Turner, a Labour MP, wrote on Twitter: “Suspect pressure to turn the aircraft around quickly meant they allowed this alleged offender to remain on board.”

Essex Police said it was “working closely” with Spanish authorities but a spokesman for the Spanish Guardia Civil last night said they had learnt of the incident through media reports and planned to launch a formal investigation but had not yet received any word from UK police or Ryanair.

It is unclear whether Ryanair has given the name of the man to British police.

The airline said that it had seen the footage and had reported the incident to Essex Police.