Tesla boss Elon Musk is due to take the stand in a Los Angeles court and face the British diving specialist he accused of being a paedophile. Vern Unsworth was among the team credited with co-ordinating the July 2018 rescue of 12 boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand.

Mr Musk, in a now-deleted tweet, described Mr Unsworth as a “pedo guy”. The entrepreneur gave no evidence to support the comment. He is being sued for defamation. Lawyers representing Mr Unsworth have described Mr Musk’s tweets as “vile and false”. The British diver is seeking punitive and compensatory damages.

The outburst last year appeared to be in response to comments made by Mr Unsworth in an interview on CNN, in which he criticised Mr Musk’s decision to send a purpose-built mini-submarine to the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai Province to help with rescue efforts.

Mr Unsworth described it as a “PR stunt”, later adding that Mr Musk could “stick his submarine where it hurts”.(BBC)…[+]