Tech tycoon Mike Lynch, one of seven to die in the Bayesian yacht tragedy, was planning to investigate the Lucy Letby trial, according to his MP friend.
Conservative politician David Davis said Mr Lynch wanted to establish ‘a UK equivalent to the Innocent Project’, a US charity that helps exonerate people who they believe have suffered miscarriages of justice.
The 59-year-old, whose body was recovered from the wreck in Sicily on Thursday, had been particularly interested in the Letby case.
Last year, former neonatal nurse Letby received a whole life prison sentence for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of another seven.
Writing in The Times, Mr Davis, said: ‘Mike was a world-class expert on probability theory, and saw straight through the statistical weaknesses that underpinned the Letby prosecution.
The MP for Goole and Pocklington was going to be involved in the Mr Lynch’s new organisation and said one of their first projects was to focus on the Letby trial.
The pair had been due to meet on Thursday (August 22) to discuss the plans.
‘But on Monday, just as I was planning to send him a text to confirm the lunch, devastating news was breaking about his superyacht sinking during stormy weather near Palermo in Italy,’ he explained.
In June this year Mr Lynch was cleared of fraud charges he faced in the US over the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of his software firm to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
He had been accused of inflating the value of his company, Autonomy, ahead of its sale, but was found not guilty by a jury in San Francisco.
He could have faced more than 20 years in jail if convicted.
Mr Davis said: ‘Mike’s tragic death is a stark reminder of the human cost of legal systems that, while designed to uphold justice, can themselves become instruments of profound injustice.’
He described Mr Lynch’s passing as a ‘dreadful personal tragedy’ for his family and friends but also a ‘huge loss’ for society as a whole.
The tech mogul started Autonomy, a software used by organisations to analyse huge swathes of data, in 1996.
The firm became successful quickly, and soon joined the FTSE 100 list of top companies based in the UK.
Mr Davis had lunch with his friend after the acquittal to celebrate the victory.
He said Mr Lynch spoke of the ‘Saint Peter questions’ – which is what you would say when Saint Peter asks you at the pearly gates, ‘How well have you spent your life?’
His plan was to use the remainder of his life to ensure he had a good answer for that, Mr Davis explained, and the exoneration project was all part of this.
The £15 Bayesian superyacht sank near Porticello at around 5am local time on Monday after being hit by a storm.
The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the yacht, was recovered at the scene on the same day.
The bodies of Mr Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were later recovered from the wreckage.
Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, 57, were rescued from a life raft shortly after the sinking.
Yesterday an Italian prosecutor said. a manslaughter investigation had been opened into the deaths
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