A prominent Suffolk peer who is a family friend of Mike Lynch said the US legal mire that the missing tech tycoon was dragged into was "an outrage" and should never happen again.

Lord Deben - who as John Gummer was Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal until 2010 - has been steadfastly loyal to the British businessman - who is currently lost at sea off the coast of Sicily.

He spoke up in support of him after the US decided to extradite him to face trial on fraud charges.

The peer said the UK's extradition deal with the US should be overturned in the Lynch family's name.

Dr Lynch was tried and acquitted by a jury in San Francisco earlier this year and returned to his Suffolk home - a farm near Wickham Market - last month.

Lord Deben was among a group of Suffolk friends there to welcome him back home. "All his friends were around because we were all so thrilled that here was his life back again," he recalled.

Those waiting for him back home to a small extent "experienced the misery" that he went through, he added.

The peer - who has known Dr Lynch for more than 25 years - said the entrepreneur was "interested in everything". As they both kept Red Poll cattle on their farms they would discuss these among many other things, he said.

He described him as "a wonderfully kind and compassionate friend of course, fearsomely bright, but always willing to listen to others".

"I'm hoping and praying that it turns out he is missing but he's alive," he said. He praised his wife, Angela Bacares, who survived the sinking of the yacht off the coast of Sicily.

"She has stood by him and looked after him," he said.

But the UK extradition with the US - which led to Dr Lynch being tried in the US - had caused the family much pain.

Dr Lynch faced fraud charges which followed the $11bn sale of the Cambridge tech company he founded - Autonomy - to Hewlett Packard. After the deal turned sour, the tech giant claimed foul play. The UK's Serious Fraud Office looked into the allegations but found no case to answer.

"It was an outrage," said Lord Deben. "This was a case which was about a British company bought in Britain by an American company that sought it out."

On his return to the UK, Dr Lynch heavily criticised the one-sided extradition deal which means that UK citizens can be sent to the US to face trial with no meaningful assessment of the merits of the case in the UK. Similar arrangements for US citizens wanted for trial here are not in place.

"They (the judges) just have to agree to it - this was an agreement made by (then prime minister) Tony Blair all those years ago," said Lord Deben.

"We are not going to let this issue escape. We have got to change the law. This must never happen again. One thing we can do for the whole family is to see this law is rescinded."

The peer felt that extradition law was being used as a weapon by powerful US companies.

"The reason this happened is because Americans are determined to undermine anyone else in the business world and they are using American law to do this," he said.

"The bit that for me is so important is this is a British company."

Lord Deben (Image: Su Anderson)

Mike Lynch pictured in Ipswich (Image: Andy Abbott)