An IT engineer accidentally lost a fortune of 750 million euros in a landfill. Since then, he has been desperately trying to recover his wealth. A decision has now been made in the case before the High Court in England.
James Howells was an IT engineer and has gained sad notoriety among crypto fans. We have already reported on the engineer who lost his fortune in a landfill on MeinMMO:
- The IT engineer started collecting in the early days of Bitcoin, when the currency was worth nothing.
- One day, he or his partner disposed of an old hard drive. Unfortunately, it was the model where the Bitcoins were stored.
- As of today (January 2025), the approximately 8,000 Bitcoins are worth about 750 million euros.
Given the high value, it is not surprising that the engineer wants to retrieve his now substantial fortune. For months, he has been struggling with the Newport City Council to gain access to the landfill.
For this reason, he sued the city. The city of Newport denied him access to the landfill for environmental reasons. And it seems that this will remain the case.
Court dismisses lawsuit, user is not allowed to search for his money in the garbage
What happens now? The competent court, the High Court, has now ruled in the case. And against the 39-year-old who has been searching for his Bitcoins for years. The court ruled that the plaintiff is not allowed to go to the landfill to find his fortune. This was reported by the English news portal BBC.com.
The presiding judge Andrew Keyser stated that too much time has passed between the disposal and today. Ten years have now passed. Furthermore, the lawsuit has no prospects of success in court, it is also stated.
The plaintiff is understandably disappointed that the court has dismissed his lawsuit. He stated that he would even be willing to share the proceeds, but the English court is not interested in that:
The termination of the proceedings at the first hearing does not even give me the opportunity to explain myself or a chance for justice in any form. There was so much more that could have been explained in a full trial, and that is exactly what I expected. (…)
It’s not about greed for me; I am willing to share the proceeds, but no one in a position of power will have a reasonable conversation with me (…) This ruling has taken everything from me and left me with nothing. The great British justice system has struck again.
He added that he has “tried to contact the Newport City Council in every possible way for the last 12 years,” and now to learn that his time has run out feels like “a kick in the butt.”
Another Bitcoin owner also possesses a large fortune that he cannot access. However, in this case, the city government is not the main problem, but a missing password. Experts are even offering him help now, but he declines: A German still has 2 attempts to access 222 million euros – An expert wants to help him, but he declines the help
