According to The Daily Mail, 38-year-old IT specialist James Howells has filed a lawsuit to retrieve a hard disc that contained Bitcoin, which is currently worth around £1.5 billion. For almost ten years, Howells has been attempting to get the stolen money back.
A decade-long quest
Ten years ago, Howells had a routine housekeeping accident that turned deadly and caused an unfathomable loss.
Sadly, this bag was misidentified as garbage, and his girlfriend threw it away at a nearby council dump without realising the critical error.
This hard drive was not your average hardware; therein were the secret keys of 8,000 Bitcoins, an asset whose value has skyrocketed to an astounding £1.5 billion over time.
After realising this error, a ten-year mission was launched to retrieve the digital wealth that was hidden beneath tonnes of garbage.
The path forward
The legal dispute has reached the High Court, where Howells is requesting entry to the landfill and defending his property rights.
Data recovery engineers and search specialists are part of his legal and recovery team, which is supported by hedge fund investors hoping to take a cut of the possible recovery.
Despite the hard drive spending years in a landfill, these experts are certain they can retrieve and repair it.
The group has refuted the council’s worries by citing examples of successful data recovery under harsh circumstances.
Howells has offered to give the financially strapped council a portion of the Bitcoin revenues that are recovered, but his pleas have been turned down.
