Cave rescue diver sues Musk over his ‘paedo’ slur

THE British diver who helped rescue Thai schoolboys from a cave has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk after the inventor branded him a ‘paedo’.

Vernon Unsworth, 63, helped free the 12 footballers and their coach at the Tham Luang cave complex in July.

But a bizarre row broke out when Mr Unsworth said a 6ft submarine offered to the team by Mr Musk had ‘absolutely no chance of working’.

The billionaire Tesla founder in turn tweeted that Mr Unsworth was not part of the relief effort, writing: ‘Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.’

Yesterday Mr Unsworth and his lawyers filed a lawsuit at Los Angeles federal court – demanding more than £56,000 in damages and a court order stopping Mr Musk from making further allegations. It alleges that Mr Musk, apparently angered by Mr Unsworth’s remarks made during a television interview with CNN, began a campaign to destroy his reputation ‘by publishing false and heinous accusations of criminality against him to the public’. The inventor was forced to apologise after shares in his company, Tesla, nose-dived and the company’s investors demanded he make amends.

But last month Mr Musk seemed to reiterate claims, writing on Twitter: ‘You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me yet? He was offered free legal services.’ The lawsuit states that with that tweet, Mr Musk sought to tell the average reader that Mr Unsworth’s failure to sue at the time was evidence that he is a paedophile.

Court documents said a separate lawsuit would be filed in England, although it is not known when this will happen.

Mr Unsworth’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, last night said: ‘Twibels (Twitter libels) show that falsehoods by the rich and powerful can circulate round the globe to their 22.5 million followers and to the media before the truth can pull its boots on.’