A businessman was hit by a car while out running – days before a yacht owned by his co-defendant Mike Lynch capsized in a freak storm off Sicily.

Stephen Chamberlain was fatally injured following the crash on Saturday before dying early today. He was cleared of fraud charges in June alongside Mr Lynch, who is now missing after the Bayesian sank yesterday morning during a ‘victory trip’.

Posts from his Strava account show the 52-year-old was six miles into a morning run before his trail stopped on Newmarket Road in the Cambridgeshire village of Stretham. Police say there was ‘nothing untoward’ about the crash and have spoken to the driver, who stopped at the scene.

Mr Chamberlain’s family today paid tribute to the ‘much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend’, as his heartbroken son, Teddy, appealed to well-wishers to complete the run as a tribute to his father.

Teddy wrote in a public post on Strava: ‘We are planning to complete this run for dad, if any of you would like to pay tribute and run it with us I will keep you updated. I’m sure we will make a post about the day and time at a later date. He was such an incredible man and the pain we feel is unimaginable.’

Mr Chamberlain was vice president of finance at Autonomy, the tech firm founded by Mr Lynch, and faced the same charges of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly scheming to inflate the company’s value before a £9billion sale to Hewlett-Packard.

Both men were left elated after being acquitted of all 15 charges by a San Francisco jury after having the threat of jail hanging over them for 13 years, prompting Mr Lynch to say he had been granted a ‘second life’.

Relatives of Mr Chamberlain said in a separate tribute released through police that he was a ‘much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend’.

‘He was an amazing individual whose only goal in life was to help others in any way possible,’ his family said.

‘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.’

Mr Chamberlain was enjoying one of his regular jogs when he crossed the A1123 Newmarket Road near a humpback bridge over a river and was hit by a car.

He was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge with serious injuries.

Cambridgeshire Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash, which they said happened at about 10.10am on Saturday.

The 49-year-old female driver of the blue Vauxhall Corsa that was travelling between Stretham and Wicken involved in the accident remained at the scene and is speaking to officers

The woman, who has not been charged, tested negative for drink or drugs. Sources said there was ‘nothing untoward’ about the circumstances.

Mr Chamberlain’s Strava account showed his activity coming to an end near Gravel Farm Self-Catering Cottages.

A woman at Gravel Farm Self-Catering Cottages said: ‘I saw the police arrive and the air ambulance arrive but I didn’t see anything else.’

The businessman’s life support was switched off early this morning with his family gathered around the bedside, MailOnline understands.

Gary Lincenberg, Mr Chamberlain’s lawyer, said in an earlier statement: ‘Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.

‘He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him.

‘Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.’

Mr Chamberlain was a keen runner who took part in a ‘100k continuous challenge’ race just over three years ago, with his wife Karen commenting online: ‘Amazing achievement, 5th out of 500+ competitors. Well done Steve Chamberlain.

It is not known if Mr Lynch had been informed of his former colleagues accident before he himself went missing yesterday morning.

In his first interview after being acquitted, the tycoon had said that it would have been ‘difficult to survive’ prison – where the men could have faced a 25-year sentence.

He told The Times: ‘I’d had to say goodbye to everything and everyone, because I didn’t know if I’d ever be coming back. If this had gone the wrong way, it would have been the end of my life as I have known it in any sense.’

Rescuers are today facing a ‘very complicated’ search for Mr Lynch, who was once known as the ‘British Bill Gates’ and remains missing alongside his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, who represented Mr Lynch in his recent legal battle.

Hannah had just completed her A-Levels and gained a place to study English at Oxford before the tragedy.

Specialist divers involved in the search operation say the £30million vessel, called the Bayesian, has come to rest on the seabed 164ft (50 metres) below the surface with ‘virtually everything intact’, with furniture blocking attempts to get inside.

The luxury yacht capsized early on Monday morning after being hit by a waterspout at around 5am, with the captain of the doomed vessel saying ‘we didn’t see it coming’ after he and 15 others were rescued from the water.

Those involved in the rescue efforts have compared the incident to that of the Costa Concordia disaster, the cruise ship which capsized in Italian waters in 2012 at the cost of 33 lives.

Tornado-speed winds flipped the superyacht so quickly that people on board were left swimming for their lives with those who made it off stranded in the pitch black water as the storm raged around them.

The ship’s chef Ricardo Thomas was found dead in the sea by search teams yesterday and hopes that survivors will be found alive in trapped air pockets are rapidly fading as the rescue operation continues.

It is believed the ship sank after its mast – one of tallest in the world at an enormous 246ft-high – snapped during the brutal incident and keeled over, taking the hull beyond the ‘down-flooding angle’, according to nautical experts.

James Catfield was named by Italian media as one of fifteen crewmembers and passengers who were rescued from the raging seas by another ship after they bailed out of the superyacht.

Speaking from a hospital room in the town of Termini Imerese close to Palermo, the captain, in a state of grief and shock, could only utter one sentence.

‘We didn’t see it coming,’ he told La Repubblica.

Former shipyard manager and maritime technical inspector Gino Ciriaci told Italian daily Corriere Della Sera said once the mast had fallen, the vessel was far more prone to pitching and rolling as it was battered by waves without the sails to steady it.

In the case of the Bayesian, he said the waterspout was so violent that the boat, dragged down by its broken mast, tilted until the edge of the deck slipped under the surface.

The entire ordeal likely lasted only a few minutes, with the ship sinking rapidly as it took on seawater.

Specialist divers had reached the ship yesterday afternoon but their search efforts were met with unexpected complications.

‘Access was limited to the bridge, due to the difficulty represented by the presence of furnishings obstructing the divers’ passage,’ the fire crews said in a statement.

The search operation was made yet more difficult because the ship was resting on the seabed at a depth of 50 metres, which limits the amount of time divers can be underwater, said fire rescue spokesperson Luca Cari.

In the meantime, survivors of the tragedy were taken to various hospitals on the island of Sicily and began recounting their terrifying ordeal.

Among the 15 rescued was one-year-old baby Sofia, who was kept afloat by her mother, 36-year-old Charlotte Golunski.

Ms Golunski, an Oxford graduate and senior associate at Mike Lynch’s company Invoke Capital, yesterday told of her fight to prevent her child from drowning.

‘For two seconds I lost my baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again in the fury of the waves,’ Ms Golunski said.

‘I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched up to keep her from drowning,’ she added.