Man’s claim to recover bitcoin fortune lost in landfill site fails

In Howells v Newport City Council [2025] EWHC 22 (Ch), the High Court seemingly put an end to a man’s decade-long attempt to recover access to circa £500million worth of Bitcoin mistakenly dumped in a landfill site in Newport, Wales.

James Howells claimed that a hard drive, containing his private key to access 8,000 Bitcoin (BTC) he reportedly owned, (which is now worth in excess of £500million) was mistakenly thrown away by his partner in 2013 and sent to a landfill site in Wales.

Since then, Mr Howells has pleaded with Newport City Council to allow him access to the site to search for the hard drive but they refused to accede to Mr Howells’ requests (which included a request to excavate the site) on the grounds that any items deposited to the landfill site were under Newport City Council’s ownership and excavation of the site would not be possible due to wider environmental concerns.

Following a 10-year battle with Newport City Council, Mr Howells, launched legal action against the Council, in October 2024, claiming £495million in damages - which was the value of the bitcoin on the hard drive at the time proceedings were issued - or access to the landfill site.  Newport City Council asked the Court to strike out Mr Howells’ claim on the basis that there was no reasonable prospect of Mr Howells succeeding in his claim and that the hard drive was now their property and Mr Howells had no entitlement to it.

In January 2025, the Court ruled in favour of Newport City Council and struck out Mr Howells’ claim with Judge Keyser KC saying that “I consider that the particulars of the claim do not show any reasonable grounds for bringing this case.  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.”

Mr Howells’ plight highlights the importance of ensuring private keys to digital assets, such as bitcoin, are kept in a safe and secure place as once lost, there is minimal prospects of accessing the same.

It has been reported that Mr Howells' is preparing an appeal with the aid of AI and considering making an offer to purchase the landfill site from the Council.