Father-of-three loses bid to dig up garbage tip looking for £600m ‘Bitcoin fortune mistakenly thrown out by his girlfriend’
A father-of-three’s desperate bid to find a £600millon Bitcoin fortune in a council rubbish dump was today thrown out by a judge.
Crypto expert James Howells, 39, launched a legal bid in an attempt to force the council to let him search the landfill site to retrieve his lost hard drive.
Mr Howells said the hard drive was accidentally thrown out by his then-girlfriend after an office clear out more than 10 years ago.
The value of the Bitcoins stored on the hard drive has since rocketed, making them worth around £608million.
Mr Howells launched a writ against Newport City Council to seek the legal right to be allowed to search for the missing hard drive or be given £495million in compensation.
However, the council sought to strike out the claim and a judge today ruled in its favour.
Judge Keyser, sitting as a High Court judge, said Mr Howells’s claim had ‘no realistic prospect of succeeding’ if he allowed the case to continue to trial.
He said: ‘I consider that the particulars of the claim do not show any reasonable grounds for bringing this case.
Crypto expert James Howells, 39, launched a legal bid in an attempt to force the council to let him search the landfill site in order to retrieve his lost hard drive
Newport City Council sought to strike out the claim and a judge today ruled in its favour Pictured: James Howells arriving at court with his legal team in Cardiff
Mr Howells claims his then-partner mistook a black bag containing the hard drive for rubbish and took it with her on a trip to the dump – where it has been lost ever since
‘I also consider that the claim would have no realistic prospect of succeeding if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason why it should be disposed of at trial.’
Mr Howells appeared at Cardiff Civil Justice Centre in December where he was represented by a team of lawyers funded by an American hedge fund as he took on Newport City Council.
He previously vowed to fight any ruling he could and said he would ‘never give up’ his search.
After accidentally dumping the hard drive along with other computer parts, Mr Howells instantly realised the mistake and has been asking to get the hard drive back ever since with Newport City Council consistently saying no.
James Goudie, KC, representing Newport Council, said Mr Howells had no legal claim to the hard drive due to the 1974 Control of Pollution Act and that the law was ‘unquestionably against him.’
He said: ‘In 2013 the council received a hard drive and that is all it did and all it ever has done.’
He said the law was ‘clear, unambiguous, and plain’, adding: ‘Anything deposited to the council shall belong to the council and will be dealt with accordingly.
‘Anything that goes into the landfill goes into the council’s ownership.’
Mr Howells had vowed to fight any ruling he could and that he would ‘never give up’ his search
The digital key is on a laptop hard drive Mr Howells believes is buried somewhere in 110,000 tons of rubbish
Halfina Eddy-Evans has revealed the role she played in throwing out the computer hard drive, which could unlock millions
Mr Howells had offered to split the profit of the Bitcoin uncovered in the dig with Newport City Council but Mr Goudie said the offer amounted to ‘a bribe’ and encouraged the council to play ‘fast and loose’ with regulations.
He said: ‘He is trying to buy something the council is not in a position to sell.
‘His claim is a fantasy.’
But Dean Armstrong KC, representing Mr Howells, said the search may be described as a ‘needle in a haystack case’ but it was actually a ‘precise excavation’ of a ‘small area which we have been able to identify.’
He said: ‘This is a finely tuned plan by expert excavators.’
The court heard Mr Howells is being backed by data recovery engineers and legal teams made up of lawyers, also representing alleged victims of the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, working pro-bono on the basis they get a share of the Bitcoin profits if successful.
Mr Howells has been asked to comment on the judgement.
He had said he would not give up his attempts to recover the hard drive and could appeal the ruling at a higher court, believing his Bitcoin wallet could soon be worth £1billion.
He said: ‘It is what it is. I could spend the rest of my life working nine-to-five and thinking about it every day. I might as well spend my time trying to recover this simple piece of metal.
‘Until the courts tells me ‘N-O spells no’, I’m going to keep going. Obviously my finances are not in the best position at the moment. I’m focusing all my current efforts and resources, including money, on the recovery project. I struggle along in the meantime.
‘But the legal effort is covered. We’re willing to go all the way to the appeals court, the Supreme Court. With a case of this magnitude I’m expecting to go the full distance. I didn’t really want to go to court but this is the final shot.’
