An inquest has opened into the death of Stephen Chamberlain, who suffered a “traumatic head injury” just days before his former boss Mike Lynch was killed when his superyacht sank.
Mr Chamberlain, 52, was the former vice president of Mr Lynch’s finance company, Autonomy, and the pair were cleared of fraud charges during a trial in the US earlier this year.
On Thursday, Caroline Jones, area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, described how Mr Chamberlain, from Longstanton, was running in Stretham on 17 August and suffered “significant injuries” after being hit by a car.
His cause of death was recorded as “traumatic head injury”.
He died in the early hours of 20 August at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
A day earlier, on 19 August, Mr Lynch became one of seven people killed when the UK-flagged superyacht named Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily in a storm.
Ms Jones told an inquest in Alconbury: “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.”
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Evidence from the fitness app Strava indicated that Mr Chamberlain was around six miles into his run after setting off from the cathedral city of Ely earlier that morning.
Inquest adjourned for police probe
Previously, Cambridgeshire Police had issued an appeal for information after a collision involving a blue Vauxhall Corsa on the A1123 Newmarket Road near Stretham.
At the time, officers said the driver, a 49-year-old woman from Haddenham, was assisting with inquiries.
The inquest has been adjourned while the force continues its investigations.
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A ‘much-loved’ and ‘courageous’ man
An earlier tribute from Mr Chamberlain’s family, released by police, described him as a “much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend” and “an amazing individual whose only goal in life was to help others in any way possible”.
His family added: “He made a lasting impression on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. He will be deeply missed but forever in the hearts of his loved ones.”
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Gary Lincenberg, Mr Chamberlain’s lawyer, also issued a statement at the time, calling him “a courageous man with unparalleled integrity”.
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Mr Chamberlain had been 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.
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