Ellie Ames 10 January 2025

Judge halts man’s bid to recover £600m bitcoin from council landfill

A man’s 10-year battle to recover what he says is a £600m bitcoin fortune from a Welsh council’s landfill site has been halted in the High Court.

James Howell launched a legal bid to force Newport City Council to allow him to search the site for a lost hard drive.

He said that in the summer of 2013 he accidentally put the hard drive containing his bitcoin wallet in a black bag and left it in the hall of his house before his then-partner mistook the bag for rubbish and took it to the dump.

Sitting as a high court judge, Judge Keyser KC ruled that Mr Howells’s claim had ‘no realistic prospect of succeeding’, accepting the council’s argument that it now owns the hard drive.

A council spokesperson said: ‘Newport City Council is pleased that the court has dismissed the claim brought by Mr Howells.

‘Dealing with this claim has already cost the council countless hours of officers’ time, which could be better spent delivering services for the people of Newport.

‘We have been very clear and consistent all along that we are unable to help Mr Howells in this matter.’

#Waste management #Legal

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