19 August 2024, 21:14 | Updated: 19 August 2024, 21:20
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The co-defended and former colleague of missing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has died after being hit by a car, reports claim.
Stephen Chamberlain was hit by a vehicle on Saturday, before dying in hospital, his lawyer said in a statement.
This comes as authorities search for six missing people in the wake of a superyacht sinking off the coast of Sicily, including Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter.
Chamberlain, the former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch at tech company Autonomy, is said to have been hit while out running in Cambridgeshire.
Chamberlain’s lawyer Gary Lincenberg told MailOnline: “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. We deeply miss him.
“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.”
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Chamberlain left Lynch’s software firm Autonomy in 2012.
Four British tourists are feared dead after the £14million superyacht was hit by a tornado.
A body, believed to be that of the vessel’s cook, has been found and police divers are trying to reach the hull of the ship, which is resting at a depth of 50 metres.
Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, Italian news website la Reppublica reports.
Sicily’s civil protection agency told the BBC that 18-year-old Hannah Lynch was among those missing with her father, along with the yacht’s chef, Ricardo Thomas. The yacht was carrying 10 crew members and 12 passengers.
His wife Angela Bacares was confirmed as having been rescued.
So far, 15 people have been rescued by coast guards on patrol boats and firefighters, including a one-year-old baby.
The child’s mother, Charlotte, said her daughter is now being treated in the Di Cristina hospital in Palermo.
Recounting how she protected her baby as the vessel sunk, Charlotte said: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.
“It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”
Paying tribute to Lynch, journalist and broadcaster David Yelland said: “To think Mike Lynch might have lost his life just as he began to rebuild it is devastating for all those that know him.
“His entire life is one of beating the odds in the most extraordinary of situations, we must pray he does so again.
“He is the UK’s greatest tech entrepreneur of recent decades, a family man, a long-time client of my business and a friend. He would be an irreplaceable loss not only to those that loved him but also to the country.”