DOUBLE TRAGEDY
Co-defendant of ‘UK’s Bill Gates’ dies in hospital after being hit by car days before Mike Lynch went missing on yacht
Mike Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain were involved in a fraud case in the US
MISSING British billionaire tycoon Mike Lynch's ex-colleague and co-defendant in his US fraud trial has died in hospital after being hit by a car, it has emerged.
Stephen Chamberlain was fatally struck by the vehicle on Saturday morning and died yesterday, just hours before Lynch disappeared after a yacht he was sailing on sunk on Monday.
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Chamberlain was flown to hospital following the incident in Cambridgeshire.
But it's understood his life support was switched off on Sunday.
A source told The Telegraph: “Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.
“He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity, and we deeply miss him. He fought successfully to clear his good name, which lives on through his wonderful family.”
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Chamberlain, Autonomy’s former vice president of finance, had faced the same US charges of fraud and conspiracy as his former boss Lynch for allegedly scheming to inflate the company’s value before it was sold.
Both had been acquitted of all charges by a jury in San Francisco in June.
After leaving Autonomy in 2012, Chamberlain had worked for cybersecurity firm Darktrace and volunteered as a finance director for football club Cambridge United.
YACHT DISASTER
The luxury vessel Bayesian was caught in a freak whirlwind off the coast of Sicily around 4am on Monday.
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Most of the 12 passengers and 10 crew were in their cabins.
Six people are still missing, including Lynch and his daughter Hannah, 18, as well as friend and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer.
Tech tycoon dubbed ‘Britain’s Bill Gates’ Mike Lynch among 4 Brits missing after £14m Bayesian yacht sinks off Sicily
Lynch, 59, was on board the £14million vessel along with guests from his legal firm and his company Invoke Capital to celebrate a US jury clearing him of fraud.
He had spent a year under house arrest in the States and recently spoke of his fear that he would die in jail if found guilty.
Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, 57, survived the tragedy but was seen in a wheelchair on Monday evening after suffering horrific injuries to both feet, believed to be from broken glass.
She reportedly told doctors they were woken at 4am as the 180ft boat tilted sharply before a scene of “confusion as glass shattered” and “everything slipped”.
The yacht was anchored outside the harbour at Porticello near the Sicilian capital Palermo.
Witnesses say that strong winds snapped the 246ft sail mast — the world’s second tallest — unbalancing the vessel and causing a list.
The captain of nearby Dutch boat the Sir Robert BP told how he helped to pull survivors from the water — including three who were seriously injured — before the coastguard arrived on the scene.
Karsten Borner said the Bayesian “went flat on the water and then down”, adding: “There was a light and we saw that the ship was aside and then we saw a triangle. So I think she went back down.”
Local fishermen also raised the alarm with port authorities.
Pietro Asciutto told reporters he watched the boat capsize, adding: “I was at home when the tornado hit.
“I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very large. I saw it sink suddenly.
Who is Mike Lynch?
By Georgie English
Entrepreneur Mike Lynch is still believed to be missing hours after a £14m luxury yacht capsized in a tornado off the coast of Sicily.
The tech tycoon, dubbed "Britain's Bill Gates", was one of the 22 people sailing onboard the £166,000 a week vessel, the Telegraph reported this afternoon.
Lynch, 59, sold Autonomy Corporation - a tech company for $11b to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
He has also been involved in Invoke Capital and cybersecurity company Darktrace.
He was awarded an OBE for his services to enterprise in 2006.
Born in Ilford, Lynch had a firefighter father from County Cork and a nurse mother from County Tipperary.
Away from work, Mike is married to wife Angela Bacares and the pair have two children together.
In 2023, the Sunday Times rich list set the couple's value at £852m.
Just weeks ago, Lynch was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in San Francisco after a 12-year legal battle over the $11bn sale of his firm, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
He was extradited to the US on fraud charges back in 2023 with a judge setting his bail at £79m.
US Marshsals took Lynch into custody at Heathrow, putting him in chains and bundling him on board a United Airlines flight.
However, he had a few things in his favour.
The nature of the case led to a boring and turgid trial, including painstaking parades of emails, reports and spreadsheets filled with jargon, leaving jurors glassy-eyed.
One was even dismissed because he repeatedly fell asleep.
Lynch argued that any questionable activity was entirely immaterial in the context of a thriving business bringing in hundreds of millions a year.
While his lawyers claimed the books were approved by outside accountants and that, by British standards, the deals in question were appropriately accounted for.
Lynch was used as the final witness and rather than going "right for the jugular", as his head lawyer Brian Heberlig said, the prosecutors simply "reviewed a chronology of documents, with no probing questions". The jury agreed.
“Shortly after I went down to get a better look at what was happening. The boat was still floating, then suddenly it disappeared. I saw it sink with my own eyes.”
He stayed on site for three hours but saw no sign of any survivors.
It is feared those unaccounted for may have been trapped inside their cabins as the yacht was struck by violent winds and rain overnight.
Helicopters, boats and firefighters continued to search for the missing last night.
A man’s body found alongside the shipwreck is thought to be Canadian Ricardo Thomas, who was the yacht’s cook.
Four Brits and two Americans remained unaccounted for.
French captain Matthew Griffith was among the 15 people rescued.
The tragedy comes two months after dad-of-two Lynch, born in Ilford, East London, was found not guilty on 16 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy, following a trial in San Francisco.
He was extradited to the US in 2023 over the £8.5billion sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
He was accused of inflating the company’s value.
Lynch, compared to Microsoft magnate Bill Gates, faced 20 years in jail and said he feared dying behind bars if found guilty.
After being cleared he insisted: “It’s bizarre, but now you have a second life. The question is, what do you want to do with it?”
One of the survivors of the tragedy is Ayla Ronald, 36, a senior associate at the Clifford Chance law firm, who was part of Mr Lynch’s legal team.
She and her partner Matthew Fletcher, who was also on board, were understood to have escaped the sinking uninjured.
Her father Lin Ronald, who works in yacht sales in Christchurch, New Zealand, told The Sun: “Ayla sent me a text a few hours ago to say she was alive and well, as is her partner Matthew.
“She was invited to go sailing by Mike Lynch to celebrate winning his recent United States court case.
“It was supposed to be a celebration cruise of sorts. I believe they had only been sailing a couple of days.”
Who are the six still missing from the Bayesian yacht tragedy?
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
THE BAYESIAN superyacht was hosting a lavish party for 12 guests, with 10 crew also onboard.
After 15 people were rescued from the water on Monday, six people remain missing and one has been found dead.
Italian authorities said the man recovered near the yacht wreckage was the chef working onboard.
Four of the missing are British and two are American.
Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, are among the four Brits lost at sea.
International chairman of bank giant Morgan Stanley, Brit Jonathan Bloomer, 70, is also missing along with his wife.
As is top New York lawyer Chris Morvillo, a solicitor at major firm Clifford Chance who worked for Mike Lynch, and his wife.
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Yacht firm Camper & Nicholsons, which manages operations on the Bayesian, said there were a total of 12 guests and 10 crew.
The majority of passengers were understood to be from the UK.
Citizens from New Zealand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Canada, the US and two dual British-French nationals were also on board.
Eight of those rescued were receiving treatment in hospital last night, according to the Italian Coastguard. None was thought to be in a serious condition.
Among the injured are the lawyer Ms Ronald; Sasha Murray, 29, of Ireland; James Catfield, 51, from New Zealand, and Myin Kyaw Htun, 39, from Myanmar.
Divers were understood to have reached the yacht’s hull, which is 160ft below the water and around half a mile from the coast.
An eyewitness, who said there had earlier been a party on the yacht, told a website: “The vessel wasn’t far from the port.
“It didn’t take much to raise the anchor and head for the port.
“Evidently, they were surprised by the storm that suddenly hit and were unable to avoid the sinking.”
The yacht, under a British flag, was previously named the Salute.
Italian prosecutors confirmed they had opened an investigation into the sinking.
The public prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese has also opened a file on the tragedy.
Staff working for Mr Lynch were unwilling to comment at his Georgian manor house in Pettistree near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
The tycoon and his wife were thought to have lived at Loudham Hall for the last 15 years.
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On Monday the gates at the top of the long drive to the 16th-century property remained closed as details emerged of the yachting tragedy.
One member of staff said on an intercom: “I’m afraid we can’t comment at the moment.”
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