Man determined to get better £569m Bitcoin fortune from landfill after accomplice chucked drive

A man who believes he threw away a life-changing sum is taking legal action to search through landfill to try and retrieve it.

James Howells has not been allowed to excavate some of the computer equipment he needs to get his 8,000 bitcoins back he thinks could be worth a staggering £500 million.

The 39-year-old says his dreams of a fortune went up in smoke a decade ago when his then partner chucked out a black bin bag containing the computer drive he needs to get access to his Bitcoin stash. It remains in a rubbish tip run by Newport Council in Wales, he says.

James has assembled a team of experts and said he is confident of getting an application from the council to get his claim dismissed thrown out.

His ‘lost’ fortune at today’s prices make his Bitcoin worth £569m and he has pledged to donate ten per cent of proceeds back to the local area, but he said the council has continually refused to engage – and says it has missed the opportunity to turn Newport into the “Dubai or Las Vegas” of the UK.

James said he didn’t want to go down the court route – but claimed a lack of engagement from the council left him no choice. He believes the fortune could one day be worth £1 billion.

If his team are eventually allowed in he said the final haul would be split between expert recovery teams, businesses and investors. He also pledged to gift ten per cent to the local community to improve the area.

James said he has assembled a strong legal team and experts to fight the case with a first hearing scheduled for December 3 at Cardiff High Court. This will deal with the ‘strike out’ application by Newport City Council.

He added: “This is a last resort…. They have continued to ignore my reasonable requests so legal action is the only course I could take.

“The assets are legally owned on their property. I am the owner of those and I have that legal right to retrieve my property. I believe I can do so at no cost or impact to Newport Council – yet they continue to refuse any efforts to engage.”

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A spokesperson for Newport City Council said: “Newport City Council has been contacted multiple times since 2013 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to be in our landfill site.

“The council has told Mr Howells multiple times that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit, and that work of that nature would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.

“The council is the only body authorised to carry out operations on the site. Mr Howells’s claim has no merit, and the council is vigorously resisting it.”

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