Elon Musk being sued by Brit Thai cave diver he called 'child rapist' and 'paedophile'

Elon Musk is being sued by a British diver in a lawsuit alleging libel, assault and slander, online court records show.

Vernon Unsworth was one of the rescuers of a group of boys and their soccer coach from a flooded Thailand cave in July.

The Tesla CEO tweeted unsubstantiated claims that Mr Unsworth - widely seen as one of the heroes in the rescue operation - was a "paedophile" and later said he was a “child rapist.”

Mr Unsworth and his attorneys have filed the suit against Musk, 47, in the US district court for the Central District of California on Monday. He has also filed a suit in the High Court in London, according to CNN.

The St Albans-born Brit, who lives in Thailand, is seeking more than $75,000 (£57,000) to compensate for the “worldwide damage” he suffered following Musk’s attacks.

A row between the pair broke out when Mr Unsworth criticised Musk's attempts to help with the rescue when he flew over a mini-submarine built by Tesla's engineers

Mr Unsworth, 63, said that Musk, who runs the electric car company Tesla and the space exploration group SpaceX, should stick the device "where the sun doesn't shine".

He claimed it had "absolutely no chance of working" and it was a "PR stunt".

Mr Musk hit back, raging to his 22 million Twitter followers: “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.”

Following widespread outcry Musk apologised however he revisited the allegations in August during another Twitter argument, asking why Mr Unsworth hadn’t sued yet if his accusations were indeed untrue.

As well as calling Mr Unsworth a "child rapist", Mr Musk accused him of moving to the Asian country to take a child bride aged "about 12 years old".

It led to Unsworth’s girlfriend, Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, 40, who has been with the diver for seven years and runs her own nail salon, hitting back describing her boyfriend as a “good man”.

Mr Unsworth has categorically denied the claims. Through his attorney today he said Musk’s claim was baseless and lacked evidence.

“Elon Musk falsely accused Vern Unsworth of being guilty of heinous crimes,” Unsworth’s attorney, L. Lin Wood, said in a statement.

“Musk’s influence and wealth cannot convert his lies into truth or protect him from accountability for his wrongdoing in a court of law."

The defamation suit paints the 63-year-old British citizen as “a highly respected caver” with more than 40 years of experience, including a handful of cave rescues in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s.