Inquiries have been opened into the deaths of tech billionaire Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah, who died when the £30million yacht they were on holiday on sank in a freak storm.
Lynch, 59, and Hannah, 18, were among seven people who died when the Bayesian sank in August; others included Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy.
The Suffolk coroner in Ipswich opened investigations into the deaths of the four and Lynch lived at nearby Loudham Hall in Wickham Market.
They died after the 56-metre yacht, with a distinctive 75-metre mast, sank in just 16 minutes on August 19, off the coast of Porticello, a small fishing village on the coast of the Italian island of Sicily.
Fifteen people – including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares – survived the tragedy, along with 14 others, and it came just months after a US court acquitted him of a multimillion-dollar fraud involving software giant Hewlett Packard.
Lynch, 59, and Hannah, 18, were among seven people who died when the Bayesian sank in August.
A photograph provided on August 19 by the Perini Navi Press Office shows the sailboat ‘Bayesiano’, in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy also died when the Bayesian yacht sank.
The yacht’s captain, New Zealander James Cutfield, 51, and the British duo, chief engineer Tim Parker Eaton, 59, and watchman Matthew Griffiths, 22, have been formally investigated for multiple manslaughter and catastrophe.
Hannah, who was due to begin her undergraduate studies at Oxford University this year, was the last of the seven to be found, four days after the sinking, with her body hidden behind a mattress below deck.
DS Mike Brown, of Suffolk Police, told coroner Nigel Parsley that the yacht had sunk “quickly for reasons yet to be determined” and that Mr Lynch’s body was found on August 22, and Hannah’s on the same day. following.
DS Brown revealed that an autopsy in Italy established that Hannah’s cause of death was “under investigation”, while Lynch drowned and both bodies were identified by members of the Bayesian crew.
The cause of Mr Bloomer’s death and that of his Sevenoaks-based wife Judy was also said to be “under investigation”.
Lynch was a British technology magnate who co-founded Autonomy Corporation, Invoke Capital, and Darktrace.
Hannah, who was due to begin her undergraduate studies at Oxford University this year, was the last of the seven to be found, four days after the sinking, with her body hidden behind a mattress below deck.
Italian reports have said that the three may have been in an air pocket and suffocated rather than drowned, as no water was found in their lungs, but no evidence of this was heard at the inquest.
The time of death for the four was 5 a.m. on August 19, less than an hour after the yacht was hit by a rare storm known as a downburst and there were ten guests and twelve crew on board.
When asked for further explanation of this by the coroner, Superintendent Brown, he said that “further evidence was needed” to establish the cause of the deaths and that it was “not uncommon” in such circumstances.
Superintendent Brown said that as the Bayesian was registered in Britain, the Marine Accident Investigation Division was also investigating the sinking and that Italian authorities had launched a criminal case.
Parsley described the four deaths as “very sad” and adjourned the hearing until April 15, 2025 for “further enquiries.”