A man who claims his ex-girlfriend chucked out a hard drive containing a £569million Bitcoin fortune has lost a legal bid to recover it from a rubbish dump.
Father-of-three James Howells, 39, claimed the drive containing 8,000 of the crypto coins, was accidentally thrown into a tip in South Wales more than 10 years ago. The 39-year-old demanded Newport City Council hand him legal access to excavate the landfill site or £495m in compensation.
However, a judge at the High Court in Cardiff today threw out the claim, ruling there was ‘no realistic prospect’ of its success. Backing the council’s application to strike out the writ, Judge Keyser KC said there were no ‘reasonable grounds’ for bringing the claim. Mr Howells, whose legal action was funded by an American hedge fund, claims the hard drive containing his Bitcoin wallet was left in a black bag in the hall of his house.
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Tom Wren / SWNS)
He claimed his then-partner mistook the bag for rubbish and threw it in the dump in 2013, where it remains. Mr Howells said he had asked permission from Newport City Council to search the site offering it a 10% share of the cryptocurrency spoils – but was repeatedly rebuffed.
His legal team, made up of lawyers representing the alleged victims of Mohamed Al-Fayed, sued Newport City Council for the value of the bitcoin, which rose substantially after the drive was thrown away. The value of the Bitcoin rose by more than 80% in 2024.
But in a ruling today, the High Court dismissed the claim and said there were no “reasonable grounds for bringing this case”. Judge Keyser concluded: “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. There will be judgement for the defendant and the claim will be dismissed.'”
Mr Howells claimed he had been able to pinpoint the site of the drive within ”Cell 2 – Area 2″ of the Docksway landfill in Newport, after he hired the council’s former head of landfill to his team. His legal team said the device was “within an area of approximately 2,000 square metres of the site” and “within an approximate volume of 10,000 – 15,000 tonnes of waste”. Newport City Council argued that the hard drive had become its property when it entered the landfill site and said environmental laws prevented any attempt to excavate the site, which contains 350,000 tonnes of waste.
Mr Howells previously said he would not give up his attempts to recover the hard drive and could appeal the ruling at a higher court. He believes his Bitcoin wallet could soon be worth £1bn. 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.”