Tests show John McAfee took his own life in Spanish prison cell, reports say

The body of the software magnate was found in his prison cell on Wednesday

File photo: John McAfee, co-founder of McAfee Crypto Team and CEO of Luxcore and founder of McAfee Antivirus, speaks at the Malta Blockchain Summit in St Julian's, Malta November 1, 2018. Reuters

The official post-mortem examination of John McAfee's body showed he took his own life in the Spanish prison cell where he was awaiting extradition to the US, reports said on Monday.

A spokesman for Catalonia's court system, which is in charge of the autopsy, did not have any information on the report in El Pais newspaper.

Prison wardens found the body of software magnate McAfee hanging in his cell on Wednesday, his lawyer Javier Villalba said last week.

Mr Villalba said on Friday that McAfee's widow Janice asked him to request a second, independent post-mortem examination after the results of the first were released.

Ms McAfee has said she does not believe her husband was suicidal and has blamed US authorities for his death.

British-born McAfee, who launched the world's first commercial anti-virus software in 1987, was detained last October at the Barcelona airport.

He had lived for years on the run from US authorities, some of that time aboard a mega-yacht.

McAfee was indicted in the US state of Tennessee in relation to tax evasion and charged in a cryptocurrency fraud case in New York.