A MAN is taking legal action against Newport City Council in a bid to recover a hard drive he accidentally discarded over a decade ago, which he believes contains a fortune in Bitcoin.
James Howells, 39, is suing the council for £495 million, claiming that his hard drive, which holds around 8,000 Bitcoin, was mistakenly thrown away during an office clear-out. At today’s value, the cryptocurrency could be worth approximately £400 million, with one Bitcoin currently trading at around £50,000.
The incident occurred when Howells, during a clear-out in 2013, accidentally placed the hard drive in a black bin bag. His partner, mistaking it for rubbish, took the bag to the local landfill, where it has remained ever since. Despite realising his error soon after, Howells’ repeated requests to Newport City Council for permission to excavate the landfill and recover the hard drive have been denied.
Undeterred, Howells has filed a legal claim to retrieve the hard drive, backed by a group of wealthy investors. He has even employed the former head of the council’s landfill operations to help him identify the exact location of the hard drive, which he believes is in the ‘Cell 2 – Area 2’ section of Newport’s Docksway Landfill.
“It is what it is,” Howells said. “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.”
Determined to pursue the case to the highest courts if necessary, Howells explained, “Until the court tells me ‘N-O spells no’, I’m going to keep going. Obviously, my finances are not in the best position at the moment, 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.”
However, Newport City Council remains firm in its refusal, citing environmental concerns. A spokesperson for the council stated, “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 also stressed that it is the only authorised body able to conduct operations at the landfill site and emphasised their stringent monitoring and reporting regime for environmental compliance. “Our monitoring and reporting regime is not related to Mr Howells’ claim,” the spokesperson added, dismissing his legal effort as a “fundamentally weak claim which we are vigorously resisting.”
The matter is set to be heard in court in December, where Howells hopes to finally gain permission to recover his hard drive—and potentially reclaim a multimillion-pound fortune.