Bayesian superyacht sinking: Fresh agony for the widow of British tycoon Mike Lynch after boating tragedy

The widow of Mike Lynch is caught up in a legal wrangle involving the manufacturer of the yacht whose sinking caused the death of the British tycoon.

Angela Lynch, 57, narrowly escaped the Bayesian as it sank off the coast of Sicily in August, killing her husband, 59, their 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch, and five others. There were 15 survivors.

Despite the horrendous ordeal, a lawyer for the Italian company that built the sunken yacht has filed a lawsuit against Mrs Lynch and members of the boat’s crew.

The case came as Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the American tech giant, also continues its pursuit of £3 billion from Mr Lynch’s estate.

The Italian Sea Group (TISG) is said to want £186 million over claims the catastrophe caused reputational damage. Legal papers were lodged on Friday naming captain James Cutfield, the crew, and Revtom, the company that owned the yacht and is run by Mrs Lynch.

But soon after the lawsuit was reported in an Italian newspaper, TISG issued a statement claiming the lawyer who filed them, Tommaso Bertuccelli, had exceeded his brief. A spokesman for the company said: “The Italian Sea Group... strongly denies the claims published in La Nazione regarding a legal action following the Bayesian tragedy.

“No legal representative of the company has examined, signed or authorised any writ of summons,” according to a report in The Sunday Times.

Mrs Lynch and her family had boarded the 183ft yacht after Mr Lynch won a long-running court case in America. He faced 15 fraud charges linked to the £8.8 billion sale of his technology company Autonomy to HPE in 2011. Had he lost the case, he would have faced being jailed for the rest of his life, but a jury acquitted him on all counts in June.

However, previously in 2022, HPE won a separate High Court legal battle heard in Britain which resulted in a demand for £3 billion in damages, which they now say is owed by Mr Lynch’s widow.