As Autonomy boss fights extradition, a stark warning from banker imprisoned over Enron: Mike Lynch faces emotional torture in a US jail

A British tech tycoon has been warned he faces 'emotional torture' in an American jail if he is extradited to the US. 

Mike Lynch, who set up Cambridge software group Autonomy and was once dubbed Britain's Bill Gates, has been accused of cooking the company's books before it was sold to Hewlett Packard for £7billion. 

The 55-year-old entrepreneur denies the allegations but could be jailed for ten years if he is extradited under a 2003 Anglo-American treaty and found guilty in the US. 

As he prepares to fight his extradition in a hearing that starts on Monday, Lynch has sought advice from 'Natwest Three' member Giles Darby about how to deal with the possibility that he could be incarcerated in the US. During his time in jail, Darby witnessed the brutal beatings of other inmates in a prison that contained convicted paedophiles and other sex offenders. 

Darby, a former Natwest banker, was controversially extradited to the US with two colleagues in 2006 amid claims they were involved in a major fraud committed by executives at bust energy giant Enron.

The 58-year-old eventually spent six months in Allenwood Federal prison after the trio admitted to a lesser crime in a plea-bargain deal which saw their sentence commuted from a maximum of 35 years to 37 months. 

Ahead of Lynch's hearing, Darby has been trying to prepare the entrepreneur for the challenges he faces if his bid to remain in the UK is unsuccessful. 

Speaking to the Mail, Darby said: 'This is what I told Mike: 'My advice to you is you should be talking to [the US prosecutors] now about going over there, cutting a deal, getting something done. Don't put yourself through the strain we went through'. 

'We got to Texas in July 2006 and we went to prison in May 2008. That was two years of our lives fighting everything.' 

Lynch has maintained his innocence in a case which has seen him accused of cooking the books at Autonomy so that Hewlett Packard overpaid when it bought the firm in 2011. The UK's Serious Fraud Office has already opted not to bring charges against him.

Darby and his colleagues also initially denied any wrongdoing when they were extradited more than a decade ago. But they eventually agreed to the plea-bargain deal over fears that if they went to trial, and lost, they could spend the rest of their lives behind bars. 

The judge in a court hearing told their lawyer: 'You need to go back and tell your boys they need to do a deal with the Feds.

'If they don't do a deal, and if they insist on going to trial in my courtroom and if they are found guilty, I'm going to lock them up and throw away the key. They will never go home.' 

Darby is due to publish his book on the ordeal, Inside Allenwood: The Story of a British Banker In A US Prison, in May.

It documents how he was 'emotionally tortured' during his time in jail by being separated from his five young daughters, witnessing brutal beatings of other inmates, and being forced to share a space with sex offenders. 

But he said that his time in jail is now behind him, and he would urge Lynch not to risk a lengthy and futile fight against the justice system with the prospect of an even lengthier sentence if he does not succeed. 

'Going to prison is horrific, you're terrified. Then you're in solitary confinement for a while. So you've spent four years stressing about being extradited and two years stressing about prison before you even get there.'