Elon Musk reported a British lawyer helping to sue the tech billionaire to police in the UK claiming fraud, according to legal documents.

Mr Musk claimed the lawyer had conspired to set up the Tesla chief executive into believing that Vernon Unsworth, a British caver who helped rescue a Thai football team from a cave system last summer, was a paedophile, documents filed by Mr Unsworth’s legal team say.

Mr Unsworth is suing Mr Musk for libel in California after Mr Musk called Mr Unsworth a “pedo guy” on Twitter.

In court documents filed ahead of the trial, which began on Tuesday, lawyers for Mr Unsworth say Mr Musk’s legal team filed a fraud report with a “police agency in the UK” in September.

The report allegedly accused a private investigator hired by Mr Musk to investigate Mr Unsworth of then colluding with Mr Unsworth’s lawyers to “set up” Mr Musk.