Ryanair has been criticised for apparently failing to remove a passenger from a flight after racial abuse of a woman in her 70s. Facebook / David Lawrence
The 77-year-old disabled woman who was racially abused on a Ryanair flight has revealed it had left her in shock and unable to sleep or eat.
The white man - who has not been arrested – was not kicked off the flight by Ryanair despite him calling the Windrush immigrant an 'ugly black b******'.
Gayle told ITV News: 'I was shocked, nobody ever said those words to me. I travel a lot, I go to Canada... and no-one has every said those words to me.
'I feel very low. He pays his fare, I pay mine. So why did he abuse me for that? Because of the colour of my skin. He should have moved and I didn't want to sit there and for him to abuse me anymore. It made me feel really angry.
'Why (is) he treating me because the colour of my skin. That's how I look isn't it? Because if I had done that to him I'm sure they would have called the police, take away with me... He do it with me and he gets away, he'll do it to somebody else.'
A shocking video showed the man threatening to push Gayle - who had been visiting the Costa Brava - off their row of seats, insisting she moved places.
Social media users condemned the lack of action taken against the man, with MPs Chris Grayling and David Lammy among those urging police to take action.
And shadow transport minister Labour MP Karl Turner claimed the passenger may 'get away with it' due to the airline wanting to get the plane off the ground.
The incident happened in Barcelona on Friday afternoon, before the video was posted on Saturday. But Essex Police only learned yesterday about what happened.
Retired care assistant Gayle said: 'I'm depressed and I lost my husband, I'm so depressed I lost him. I'm just sitting in the house, crying and I don't go out.
Victim Delsie Gayle, 77, of Stratford, East London, pictured (right) with her daughter, who is 53.
Gayle's daughter told ITV News that after a passenger began shouting at her mother she assumed cabin crew who had been called over would stop the abuse.
The 53-year-old therefore went to the toilet – but when she returned she found little had been done to help her mother, and Gayle was moved to another seat.
The daughter said: 'Nothing was done and I know if that was a black person racially abusing an elderly woman the police would have been called.
'When I saw the video I felt he was the victim - that's the way Ryanair was treating it. It's so upsetting to believe that this is still going on.
Describing Ryanair's approach, she added: 'On the plane it was unprofessional, and after it was unprofessional. It's all wrong, I just believe they need more training'.
Speaking about the impact the incident has had on her, Gayle added: 'I feel really depressed about it. I go to my bed and say 'what have I done?'
'I haven't done anything for you to attack me. Because of the colour of my skin I was abused like that?'
Despite repeatedly abusing the woman, Ryanair staff initially appeared to watch the argument unfold without intervening and refused to kick the man off the plane.
The victim's family added to pressure by saying Ryanair staff claimed to have heard no racist language being used in the exchange while brushing off their complaints.
The video has sparked a huge backlash, with MP David Lammy even likening the victim's ordeal to that of American civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks.
The incident unfolded on Ryanair flight FR9015 from Barcelona to London Stansted Airport last Friday as the victim returned from a family getaway.
Among those angered on social media was George Kaimakis, who tweeted: 'It's shameful that Ryanair allowed this racist to get away with his abuses - he should have been escorted off the plane, under police arrest if necessary.'
Imogen Dempsey added: 'I don't understand why on earth Ryanair didn't either remove him and abandon him in Spain, or have the police waiting for him at Stansted? Hope the police arrest him pronto and the CPS actually prosecute.'
And Nicole Le Bold said: 'More people should have intervened. One man on a plane filled with passengers intervened... one man!
'That vile racist should have had a citizen's arrest until the police arrived and been ejected off the flight, given that Ryanair staff failed to act'
Another social media user called 'Dave' added: 'Police should've been there to arrest him as soon as the plane disembarked. Shouldn't be up to a customer and social media to get it dealt with.'
A further Twitter user said: 'The correct action was to move the lady for her own safety and have Spanish police arrest the man for air piracy. But no they took off with an aggressive violent passenger, putting the flight at risk. Well done Ryanair.'
And one commenter tweeted: 'Police, do your job and arrest him. Enough evidence for conviction. Judges don't go soft with sentencing. Ryanair.'
Gayle, who moved to the UK in the 1960s, was taken on the trip to lift her spirits on the one-year anniversary of her husband's death.
Speaking last night, she also told ITV: 'I am so depressed. I've just lost my husband and now I have to go through this.'
Her daughter said that the tirade began before take-off when the man complained that her mother was taking too long to move from her aisle seat as he tried to access a window seat.
A verbal argument ensued between the man and Mrs Gayle's daughter, who angrily asked him to have patience because her arthritis-suffering mother is disabled.
During the exchange, the man replies: 'I don't care whether she's f****** disabled or not - if I tell her to get out she gets out.'
The man also called Gayle 'an ugly f****** c***' and tells staff to move the woman to another seat.
When the elderly passenger addresses the man herself in a Jamaican accent, he responds: 'Don't talk to me in a f***ing foreign language, you stupid, ugly cow.'
A flight attendant eventually addresses the man, saying: 'Don't be so rude, you have to calm down.'
The victim's daughter, 53, last night said that the family would never fly with Ryanair again over its handling of the incident.
She told the Huffington Post: 'In a few weeks, it'll be one year since my dad died and I took my mum away for a few days' break. My parents were married for over 50 years.
'She's been feeling really down and depressed, so I thought the trip would raise her spirits.'
Speaking anonymously, she said that the incident would have been handled differently if the abuser had been black.
'My mother has worked her all of her life, paid her taxes and her dues,' her daughter added. 'Why should she have to go through all of this?
'Mum's really feeling upset and very stressed about this situation, on top of the grief that she's already experiencing.
As cabin crew appeared to do little to stop the melee, a fellow passenger in the row behind tells the man to stop and puts his hands between the two passengers.
But the abuser responds: 'I will carry on as long as I can with this black b******.'
The man repeatedly demands that the woman should move seat, at one stage adding: 'If you don't go to another seat I'll push you to another seat.'
At one stage, Gayle herself asks to be moved and can be heard telling the man he stinks and needs a wash.
The man says: 'If you don't go to another seat I'll push you to another seat.'
