Friend remembers 'genius' and 'genuine' Mike Lynch

Tony Quested, who knew Mr Lynch for 31 years, said he was "still struggling" to come to terms with his death

A long-standing friend of the tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who has died after the sinking of a yacht off the cost of Sicily, has paid tribute to a "brilliant man" who was a "genuine human being" as well as a "mathematical genius".

Tony Quested, the chief executive of Cambridge-based publication Business Weekly, knew Mr Lynch for 31 years and described themselves as good friends.

Mr Quested said he was "still struggling" to come to terms with the tragedy, after a yacht carrying Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday.

Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, 15 people survived the sinking, including a one-year-old and Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares.

Mr Quested said he was in "utter disbelief" over Mr Lynch's death, which happened two months after the businessman had been acquitted of fraud charges in the US.

He said they kept a "respectable distance" during the case because of Mr Quested's job in technology journalism, but that he got an insight into how the charges were affecting Mr Lynch.

"He was worried about dying in jail," said Mr Quested.

"He wanted to get his life back with his wife and his two girls and his beloved dog."

Mr Quested said Mr Lynch did not speak of his family often, but was "tremendously proud" of his two daughters.

"He loved his family," he said.

'Two good men'

Mr Lynch, who founded Autonomy in 1996 while a research fellow at Cambridge University, was a "genius in his field" according to Mr Quested.

Mr Quested said his friend "evoked a lot of jealousy from people who didn't bother to get to know him".

He also paid tribute to Mr Lynch's co-defendant, Steven Chamberlain, who died in hospital after he was struck by a vehicle while running in Stretham, Cambridgeshire, on Saturday.

"For them both to be taken in such tragic circumstances is just beyond belief, two good men," he said.

"You wouldn't find anyone with a bad word to say about Steve Chamberlain."

Mr Quested recalled Mr Lynch's love of James Bond, saying that he got members of the management team to dress up as Bond villains and re-enact scenarios.

"Ian Fleming couldn't write this," he said.

"If you'd sat Ian Fleming down at his most poetic, and said: 'Can you come up with a final chapter like this?', he couldn't have written it."