Update on Mike Lynch’s Bayesian superyacht: Captain refuses to answer questions while two crew members are investigated

The captain of the Bayes yacht did not answer the prosecutor’s questions at the third hearing on Tuesday, his lawyer said.

51-year-old New Zealander James Cutfield is being investigated for manslaughter and intentionally endangering a ship.

“The captain has exercised his right to remain silent for two main reasons,” lawyer Giovanni Rizzuti told reporters. “First, he is very exhausted. Second, we were only appointed on Monday and in order to make a thorough and correct defense we need to obtain a series of data that are not available to us at the moment.”

Being investigated does not automatically mean guilt or that charges will be brought. Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said his team would examine every possible element of responsibility, including that of the captain, crew, those responsible for supervision and the yacht’s manufacturer.

The times One of Mr Cutfield’s lawyers said the captain was “understandably very shaken” after last Monday’s ordeal.

A court-appointed armed guard tasked with ensuring Mike Lynch did not go into hiding while facing fraud charges paid tribute to the tech mogul, saying the security team had become “less of a solo effort and more like a family.”

Rolo Igno also described “the memory of a beautiful soul” in Lynch’s daughter Hannah.

Mr Igno said he had the “privilege” of spending “almost every waking minute” with Mr Lynch while in custody in San Francisco, describing the deployment as one he had never done before and one that was “life-changing”.

“For a bodyguard, rule number one is simple: never get too close to the client,” he said.

“They are not your friends, they are a customer and the relationship is purely professional. But Mike didn’t take kindly to that and for me that rule was quickly overturned.”

The sinking of the 56-meter-long yacht Bayesian and the tragic deaths of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his guests and boat crew have given the public an insight into the exclusive world of superyachts, writes Boat InternationalI Lucy Dunn.

There are currently 12,626 superyachts in operation around the world, with 1,166 under construction or on order. If you’ve been to a Greek island this year, or perhaps the Amalfi Coast, you may have seen them entering and leaving ports and wondered who owns one. Or who can afford to charter one – the average price of which is around £180,000 per week.

While you may be thinking of glossy influencers and A-list celebrities, the superyacht community is where millionaires are separated from billionaires from centi-billionaires; the 0.001 percent. You’ll rarely find a celebrity financially strong enough to afford a yacht that Lynch owns. These tend to be industry giants that fly under the radar and aren’t household names.

So what exactly makes a superyacht a superyacht? According to Boat International, where I work, this can be applied to any boat, motor or sailing yacht, that is longer than 24 metres. Size is everything in the world of superyachts – and yachts are getting bigger and bigger.

Italian authorities are investigating three people for manslaughter following the sinking of the Bayesian yacht off the coast of Sicily.

The boat’s captain, James Cutfield, 51, of New Zealand, was investigated on Monday. When questioned on Tuesday, he refused to answer prosecutors’ questions.

Investigations are now also underway against two British crew members. The same investigations are underway against ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith.

A source told Reuters that Parker Eaton is suspected of failing to protect the yacht’s engine room and operating systems.

Being investigated does not mean that someone is guilty, nor does it mean that formal charges will be brought.

Recaldo Thomas was the superyacht’s chef and the first person confirmed dead.

The Canadian-Antiguan national was found near the sunken boat by the Italian coast guard. A friend of Mr Thomas, who wished to remain anonymous, said the yachting community was saddened by his death.

She told The Independent: “He was a unique, special person. Incredibly talented, with an infectious smile and laugh, an incredible voice and a deep love of the sea and the moon. I spoke to him almost every day. He loved his life, his friends and his job.”

Autonomy, the software company that Mike Lynch sold in an £8.64 billion deal in 2011, was a pioneer in business data analytics, using machine learning and what Lynch called “adaptive pattern recognition.”

The heart of the software was the statistical method of “Bayesian inference,” which was developed in the 18th century by the mathematician Thomas Bayes.

The name of the yacht, Bayesianuses the same model that was at the core of Autonomy and Mr. Lynch’s success.

Hannah Lynch had just finished high school and secured a place to study English at Oxford University.

Her former English teacher Jon Mitropoulos-Monk said she was “one of the best English students in the country” and achieved 100% in her GCSE in English Literature.

Patrick Jacob, a family friend, paid tribute to her on Friday, saying: “Hannah was charming and incredibly intelligent with an insatiable thirst for life and knowledge. She was also warm, loving and deeply thoughtful; remarkable for her age.”

“I am 50 years older than her and have never met anyone like Hannah in my life. We have lost one of our brightest stars whose future was so promising. Her loss is unbearable.”

The captain of the Bayesian insisted that he did not see the storm that caused the Bayesian to sink last week.

James Catfield, 51, said of the storm on Tuesday: “We didn’t see this coming.”

A judicial official, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to Reuters on Monday earlier reports in the Italian media that the New Zealander was being investigated by Italian prosecutors after the superyacht capsized in a tornado off the coast of Sicily last Monday.

British technology magnate Mike Lynch was one of the seven people who died when the luxury superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily.

The 59-year-old is known as the founder of Invoke Capital and Autonomy Corporation and made headlines after he was acquitted of charges in a high-profile fraud case.

Once dubbed the “British Bill Gates,” Lynch and his wife Angela Bacares were estimated to be worth £852 million by the Sunday Times Rich List in 2023.

He then went to Cambridge University and founded his first company alongside his doctorate in signal processing and communications research.

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