James Howells, the man who claims to have lost £769m worth of bitcoin in a Welsh landfill, has had his appeal thrown out by the second-highest court in the land – and has now resolved to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Howells, who lost 8,000 coins of the cryptocurrency after his ex-partner accidentally threw away the hard drive on which they were stored in 2013, had his appeal against Newport City council rejected by a senior judge this week, on the grounds it did not stand a reasonable prospect of success.
The ruling marks the second, and final, unsuccessful attempt by Howells to use the UK courts to try and compel his local council to let him search the landfill where he believes the hard-drive will be located.
In January, he lost a High Court showdown with Newport City council after a judge sided with the council’s case that searching the landfill would impinge on what it argued was a critical piece of local infrastructure.
Howells then appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal, filing his papers last month. At the time, he told City AM his bid was about “proving a point.”
But in court documents released on Thursday, Lord Justice Nugee denied his bid for another day in court, writing: “There is no other compelling reason why the appeal should be heard and permission must therefore be refused.”
Justice Nugee also refused permission for Howells to appeal to the Supreme Court, bringing an end to the IT worker’s hopes of obtaining a warrant to search the landfill site from the UK court system.
“The British establishment wants to sweep this under the carpet and I will not let them,” Howells told City AM. “It will not go away – no matter how long it takes.”
Howells has now resolved to escalate his case to highest court in Europe – the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“The only legal option left to me is to apply to the ECHR… with a claim that my A1P1 – right to property – and AA6 – Right to Fair Trial – have been breached by both the UK High Court and UK Court of Appeal during recent proceedings,” he added.
In February it also emerged that Howells had assembled a consortium of investors who would back an attempt to buy the landfill off Newport City council.