A 39-year-old man who inadvertently ‘threw away’ a Bitcoin fortune now worth over £600m has been dealt a blow in his legal battle to recover it. James Howells’ says he lost a fortune when his then-partner discarded a black bin bag containing a hard drive that had his 8,000 Bitcoins stored on it over a decade ago.
Since he lost the Bitcoins, its value has surged to more than $102,000 per unit, making his loss worth approximately £635 million. However, he has been denied permission repeatedly by his local authority – Newport Council – to search the landfill site as they say it would pose environmental risks.
He took the council to court in a claim for either landfill access or £495m in compensation. However, after Newport Council had requested the case be struck out, Cardiff High Court agreed and dismissed Mr Howells’ case against the council in a ruling yesterday (January 10). Judge Keyser KC ruled there were no “reasonable grounds” for the claim and “no realistic prospect” of success at trial.
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Howells, who says he is now determined to escalate the matter to the Supreme Court, has described his legal challenge as a ‘last resort. ‘ James had pledged to donate 10% of proceeds back to the local area – an offer that the council’s legal team had accused of being a “bribe” – and his legal representatives argued that a specialist team could retrieve the hard drive at no cost to taxpayers.
Landfill site in Newport James Howells’ hoped to excavate to find his lost Bitcoins
Speaking before the case, James said the council has continually refused to engage and “had missed the opportunity to turn Newport into the ‘Dubai or Las Vegas’ of the UK”. He stated: “Despite being thrown out by my ex partner, which was a mistake and was without my permission or consent, I still own the intellectual digital property located on the hard drive.
“I am either entitled to recover the property at full cost to myself or if the landowner refuses they it they pay me the value of my property. I would much rather say let’s have a conversation and let’s dig and work together amicably – but they don’t want to know.
“It is crazy money that could do so much good for the area.”
If the council’s application to ‘strike out’ had not been granted, it would have paved the way for a full two-week hearing within the next six months.
James claimed he was reluctant to go down the court route but claimed a lack of engagement from the council left him no choice.
James Howells has accused Newport Council of ‘living in the dark ages’
He added: “The council lives in the dark ages. Newport could have looked like Las Vegas or Dubai if they had the foresight to engage. But they did not understand crypto currency and have refused to learn.
“If they had spoken to me back then about investment in crypto the whole area – the whole of South Wales – could have profited from the rise. But they were not intelligent enough or willing to listen to do so. I have continued to try and engage with them and they’ve rejected all communication with us.”
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James said that he has assembled a robust legal team and experts to fight his case. He added: “In June this year I finally decided to take legal action against Newport Council – 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.
“I’ve employed a team that have done multiple landfill excavations – all within environmental guidelines. We also have AI experts that have the tech to make the job of finding the needle in the haystack that much easier. I can carry out everything at no cost to the public.”
Mr Howells has said he’s still willing to fight his case in the Supreme Court
Newport City Council responded: “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.”
Mr Howells stated he still ‘believed’ in his case and was willing to fight it in the Supreme Court.