Mike Lynch’s business partner died from ‘traumatic head injury’, inquest hears

Stephen Chamberlain was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire while out jogging

Mike Lynch’s former business partner died from a “traumatic head injury” after being hit by a car, an inquest has been told.
Stephen Chamberlain, Mr Lynch’s co-defendant in his US fraud trial, was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire, two days before Mr Lynch’s superyacht, Bayesian, sank off the coast of Sicily.
The 52-year-old was out running when a car struck him after cresting a humpback bridge, the inquest heard.
Caroline Jones, the area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said Mr Chamberlain’s medical cause of death was recorded as “traumatic head injury”.
She told the inquest in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire: “A vehicle travelling between Stretham and Wicken on the A1123 crested a humpback bridge and was presented with a runner crossing the road from the nearside to the offside between two parts of a bridleway.”
She said the car struck Mr Chamberlain, causing him “significant injuries”.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary said the collision happened on Aug 17, and an activity uploaded to the fitness app Strava indicated that Mr Chamberlain was around six miles into his run, having set out from the cathedral city of Ely earlier that morning.
Ms Jones said he was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, and his death was formally confirmed at 3.50am on Aug 20.
“Police investigations remain ongoing, therefore no further date has been fixed for these proceedings to resume,” she said. “I extend my condolences to the family of Stephen Chamberlain.”
Mr Chamberlain and Mr Lynch were cleared earlier this year of conducting a massive fraud over the sale of software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
Relatives of Mr Chamberlain said in an earlier tribute, released through police, that he was a “much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend”.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary previously issued an appeal for witnesses to the collision. Police said the driver of the car, a 49-year-old woman from Haddenham, remained at the scene and was assisting with inquiries.
Gary Lincenberg, Mr Chamberlain’s lawyer, said in an earlier statement: “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.”
Hewlett-Packard acquired Cambridge-based Autonomy, founded by Mr Lynch in 1996, for $11 billion (£8.35 billion), but later wrote down its value by $8.8 billion and asked the US justice department to investigate fraud.
Mr Chamberlain, a former vice-president of finance at the company, was accused of artificially inflating Autonomy’s revenues and making false and misleading statements to auditors, analysts and regulators in 2018.
Both he and Mr Lynch were found not guilty of the charge in June following a trial at a federal court in San Francisco, California.