British man wants to buy landfill to look for lost $1 billion Bitcoin fortune

A British man who has battled his local council for over a decade to recover a £600 million (S$1 billion) Bitcoin fortune he believes is buried in a landfill is considering buying the site to continue his search.

Computer expert James Howells from Newport in South Wales claimed his former girlfriend accidentally threw out a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins in 2013.

Since then, he has tried and failed to get the Newport city council to help him regain the data storage device.

He tried to sue the council to get access to the site, or get £495 million in compensation, but his case was recently dismissed by a judge.

His Plan B? Buy the landfill, on the heels of the council’s recent announcement to close the landfill and convert part of the land into a solar farm.

Mr Howells said on Feb 10 it was “quite a surprise” to hear about the impending closure, the English media reported.

The landfill holds more than 1.4m tonnes of waste, reported the BBC.

“I expected it would be closed in the coming years because it’s 80 per cent to 90 per cent full, but didn’t expect its closure so soon.

“If Newport city council would be willing, I would potentially be interested in purchasing the landfill site ‘as is’ and have discussed this option with investment partners, and it is something that is very much on the table,” Mr Howells told The Guardian.

During the January court case, Mr Howells said he had accidentally placed his hard drive containing his Bitcoin wallet into a black bag and left it in the hall while he was sorting out some items.

His former partner had mistaken the bag for rubbish and threw it away.

In dismissing the case, the judge said on Jan 9 that Mr Howells’ claim had “no realistic prospect of succeeding” and that too much time had passed between the hard drive being lost and the claim being brought.

Mr Howells is undeterred, saying that he will appeal against the judge’s decision.