Coroner opens inquest into death of businessman

Stephen Chamberlain was a former colleague of tech tycoon Mike Lynch

A coroner has opened an inquest into the death of a former colleague of technology tycoon Mike Lynch.

Stephen Chamberlain, 52, died in hospital after being hit by a car while running in Stretham, Cambridgeshire - near his home in Longstanton - on 17 August.

His colleague, Mr Lynch, was found dead after the yacht Bayesian sank in a storm off Sicily two days after Mr Chamberlain was struck.

Coroner Caroline Jones opened an inquest at a hearing in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire.

Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah Lynch who both died after the Bayesian foundered

The inquest heard Mr Chamberlain died of “traumatic head injuries” after a collision on a humpback bridge on the A1123.

Miss Jones said a vehicle travelling between Stretham and Wicken "crested a humpback bridge" and was "presented with a runner crossing the road" between two parts of a bridleway.

Mr Chamberlain was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and his death was formally confirmed at 03:50 BST on 20 August.

The coroner has not yet fixed a date for a full hearing.

Cambridgeshire County Council headquarters in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, where Thursday's inquest hearing was staged

Mr Chamberlain and Mr Lynch were business partners and had been defendants in a fraud trial in the United States earlier this year.

American prosecutors made fraud allegations over the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of Mr Lynch's software firm, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

Both were acquitted.

Mr Chamberlain had been a finance executive at Autonomy, co-founded by Mr Lynch in 1996.

Hewlett Packard (HP) had won a multibillion-dollar civil case, after suing Mr Lynch, in the High Court in London in 2022.

Cambridgeshire Police said there is no evidence that Mr Chamberlain’s death was "suspicious or untoward".

The force added officers had not been in contact with Italian police and were not going to Italy.

Rescue boats and divers involved in a seach after the Bayesian sank.

Mr Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, and five others died after the Bayesian foundered.

The 59-year-old businessman was raised near Chelmsford, Essex, and had a home near Pettistree, Suffolk.

He studied at Cambridge University and in 1991 helped establish Cambridge Neurodynamics - a firm which specialised in using computer-based detection and recognition of fingerprints.

Autonomy was created five years later, using a statistical method known as "Bayesian inference" at the core of its software.