EXCLUSIVE: 'I am NOT a child bride! Hero British diver's FORTY-year-old girlfriend demolishes 'laughable' claims by billionaire Elon Musk that he 'is a paedophile who married a 12-year-old'

Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, 40 (left) has been in a relationship with British expat in Thailand (right) Vernon Unsworth for seven years

THE girlfriend of the Brit cave rescue hero dubbed a "paedo" and "child rapist" by Elon Musk has branded the billionaire's outrageous allegations laughable.

Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, who has been with Vernon Unsworth for seven years, spoke out hours after the Tesla tycoon said the 63 year old had married a child bride.

The 40-year-old - known as Tik - told the Thai news website Coconuts: "The news about him being married to a 12-year-old child is laughable."

Tik, who shares a rural home with Unsworth near Chiang Rai, added: "Vern is a kind person. He rarely has an argument with anyone, and everybody loves Vern.

"We've spent our life together for seven years - he's a good man and such a gentleman. He thinks of others before himself. I cannot comment further. I don't have anything to say to him [Musk].

"I know what kind of person Vern is. If he wasn't a good man, we wouldn't still be together after all these seven years."

Asked about whether he would sue Musk, she said: "I have no details. I'll have to wait until Vern gets here. If your husband was accused of this, would you sue?"

The outspoken tech CEO, 47, earlier called Unsworth a “child rapist” and claimed he moved to Thailand to find a child bride in a second baseless attack.

He repeated the baseless slur - denied by Unsworth's lawyers - in an explosive email to Buzzfeed News.

He blasted: "He's an old, single white guy from England who's been travelling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time.

"There's only one reason people go to Pattaya Beach. It isn't where you go for caves, but it is where you'd go for something else. Chiang Rai is renowned for child sex-trafficking."

Elon Musk has repeated his outrageous comments about Brit cave hero Vernon Unsworth

He added: "As for this alleged threat of a lawsuit, which magically appeared when I raised the issue (nothing was sent or raised beforehand), I hope he f***ing sues"

His latest outburst comes after a US-based lawyer for Unsworth sent Musk a letter - by Fedex and electric mail - notifying him of a possible lawsuit.

The Brit is being represented by well-known L.Lin Wood P.C, of Atlanta, who are described as "powerhouse libel and defamation lawyers."

Musk made his original allegations against Unsworth in mid July without any evidence, before later saying sorry and deleting his offending tweets.

Musk - worth a reported $20bn -  posted a string of bizarre series of tweets, some of which he later deleted, suggesting the expert had exaggerated his role in the rescue.

In July, he claimed it was suspicious the 63-year-old lived in Thailand before explicitly branding him a "paedo" in one post.

Musk added: "Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves."

However he then tweeted: “My words were spoken in anger after Mr. Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader.

“Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone."

The billionaire then took to Twitter again to question why the Brit hadn't sued him in wake of the remarks.

Musk  wrote: "You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services."

In a tense Twitter exchange with a journalist he added: "Did you investigate at all? I’m guessing answer is no. Why?"

Unsworth is a British expat and caver who lives near the Tham Luang tunnel network where the 12 boys and their football coach were trapped for more than two weeks.

He was scathing of Musk's offer to send a mini-submarine to help in the rescue efforts, which he dismissed as "just a PR stunt" and said the billionaire could "stick the submarine where it hurts."

Mr Musk’s initial accusation was widely criticised - with Mr Unsworth admitting the public spat had upset his family.

“It’s taken a bit of the pleasure out of what’s happened, what we’ve achieved, for me anyway. It’s very much upset my daughter,” he said in July.

Mr Unsworth's lawyer, L. Lin Wood, has strongly denied the latest accusation.

"Elon Musk can tweet his vindictive and vicious lie about Mr. Unsworth a hundred times and it will still be a lie," Wood wrote in a statement to Buzzfeed.

"After deleting the initial accusation and tweeting an apology, Mr Musk has continued to republish his false and unsupportable accusation.

"His conduct demonstrates that his recklessness is intentional and designed to harm Mr. Unsworth."