Wednesday 29 August 2018 4:03 pm | Updated: Friday 24 May 2019 7:45 pm

The British diver accused of being a paedophile by Elon Musk is preparing to sue him for libel

Vernon Unsworth, the British diver accused of being a paedophile by Tesla boss Elon Musk, is said to be "preparing a civil complaint for libel" through his legal counsel.

A letter from Unsworth's lawyer L. Lin Wood, dated to 6 August and seen by Buzzfeed News, provided grounds for a possible lawsuit against Musk for his "false and defamatory statements" about the diver.

Musk reignited controversy on Twitter last night regarding the comments, in which he referred to Unsworth as a "pedo guy" after Unsworth criticised his plans to launch a miniature submarine as part of a rescue effort in Thailand for 12 young footballers.

The Tesla billionaire implied that Unsworth had not followed through on legal proceedings over the comments.

Musk previously made the claims on Twitter without evidence, and later deleted the tweets after issuing an apology to Unsworth.

"You published through three different tweets to your 22m followers that Mr. Unsworth engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children, and you did so at a time when he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children," writes Unsworth’s lawyer L. Lin Wood in the letter, according to Buzzfeed.

"You did so without any basis. According to a subsequent Twitter post, you did so out of anger."

Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.