The co-defendant of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who has gone missing amid the Sicily superyacht sinking, has died after being struck by a car, police have confirmed.
Stephen “Steve” Chamberlain, 52, died in hospital after being hit by a car in Cambridgeshire, England, on Saturday, Aug. 17 authorities shared on Tuesday, Aug. 20. Local police are now investigating his death as they are seeking witnesses to the incident.
Authorities previously reported that a pedestrian in his 50s had been “seriously injured” in the collision, which happened at around 10:10 a.m. on Saturday. The driver of the car was confirmed to be a 49-year-old woman who “remained at the scene.”
The Guardian reports that Chamberlain was out for a run at the time he was hit, citing his attorney, Gary Lincenberg.
Police shared a statement from Chamberlain’s family in tribute: “Steve was a much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend. He was an amazing individual whose only goal in life was to help others in any way possible. … He will be deeply missed but forever in the hearts of his loved ones.”
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Chamberlain was the co-defendant of Lynch in a U.S. trial over his tech company Autonomy. He was accused of fraud and conspiracy over allegedly inflating the company’s earnings with Lynch, ahead of an $11 billion deal with Hewlett-Packard, per The Times, TechCrunch and the Associated Press.
The former business partners were both acquitted of all 15 charges in June by a San Francisco jury, per outlets.
Following Chamberlain’s death, his attorney Lincenberg described him as “a courageous man with unparalleled integrity.”
“We deeply miss him,” Lincenberg said, per the BBC. “Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.”
Lynch remains missing, along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and several others, after a luxury superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday, Aug. 19, according to the AP, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, among other outlets.
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The Italian coastguard said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that the Bayesian, a 183-ft. yacht flying the U.K. flag, sank near Porticello around 5 a.m., local time on Monday, Aug. 19, after a “violent storm.”
Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 people rescued, local sources shared, per reports. Six additional people — including two Americans and four British citizens — remain missing, the coastguard and local sources said.
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A spokesperson for Sicily’s civil protection agency, Francesco Venuto, previously told the BBC that authorities believe the missing are trapped in the yacht.
“We’ve been searching all day with helicopters and boats. We’ve found nothing,” said Venuto. “That wouldn’t make sense; in these conditions, we should have found something by now.”
