He is, the duty solicitor in court one of Stratford magistrates court explains: "deeply remorseful and deeply embarrassed". The defendant in question, a 36-year-old Lithuanian accountant called Petras Lescinskas, with a bald head and a biker beard, is making Olympic history as the first person convicted of a racially aggravated offence at the Games. The court has heard from prosecutor, Becky Owen, that Lescinskas had been one of a group of rowdy and offensive Lithuanian basketball fans who made monkey chants during their country's match against Nigeria.

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