'I threw out £500million worth of Bitcoin - the council won't let me have it back'

A man threw away over half a billion pounds worth of Bitcoin a decade ago and now he is trying his final attempt to get it back after his council has ignored his many requests

A man who threw away half a billion in Bitcoin is facing his last chance legal fight to enter landfill to retrieve it.

James Howells, 39, is gearing up for court action against Newport Council in Wales, after they refused to let him to excavate computer equipment needed to unlock his 8,000 Bitcoins, equivalent to £569 million today.

A decade ago James' then partner, threw away a black bin bag containing the drive he needed to gain access to his Bitcoin. Since, it has sat in a rubbish tip, which James has spent the years fighting for the right to retrieve it.

This week, James instigated action against the council as a last resort. The first hearing on an application from the authority to get James' request thrown out, is scheduled for early December at Cardiff High Court. James has put together a team of experts and said he is confident of getting the application thrown out. Which if it does, a full two week hearing would take place within the next six months.

James claims the council has continually refused to engage with him, despite him pledging to donate 10 per cent of the proceeds back into the local area, which could give Newport the opportunity to turn into the 'Dubai or Las Vegas' of the UK.

He said: "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. I instigated the court action that should take about three to six months.

"Should I be successful in defeating the 'throw out' application' I will be proceeding within three to six months with a full two week court case. The current valuation is more than £500M. When it hits £125k per coin it hits £1B. It is crazy money that could do so much good for the area."

Whilst James did not want to go down the court route initially, he claimed he felt as if he had no choice left. If his team are eventually allowed into the landfill site, then the final haul would be split between expert recovery teams, businesses and investors.

"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," he added. "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.

James added that, although his set of Bitcoin is worth just over half a billion pounds, all that Bitcoin needs to do is hit £125k and his stash would break through the billion pound barrier.

"The assets are legally owned on their [Newport Council's] property. I am the owner of those and I have that legal right to retrieve my property," James added. "I believe I can do so at no cost or impact to Newport Council - yet they continue to refuse any efforts to engage.

"They want to get this thrown straight out of court but their opinion is an uneducated one and doesn't come from experts. We have assembled a team of experts to address all the environmental concerns.

"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. We are confident we have all the evidence to defeat the strike out application.

"The council has just been antagonistic the whole way through. Our team of experts say the data is recoverable. They don't believe that but they are not qualified to make that judgement. They don't know how the hard drive was put together."

A spokesperson for Newport City Council said: "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."