British Man to Appeal to ECHR Over Lost Hard Drive Containing 7500 BTC

The Royal Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom has rejected James Howells’ request for permission to search a landfill for his hard drive containing 7500 BTC (approximately $621.9 million). The plaintiff announced this on X.

Appeal request to the Royal Court of Appeal: refused

The Great British Injustice System strikes again…

The state always protects the state.

Next stop: ECHR pic.twitter.com/KFYRSbsEPo

— James Howells (@howelzy) March 14, 2025

The court justified its decision by stating it saw “no real prospects of success” and “no other compelling reasons” to consider the request.

“The Great British Injustice System strikes again… The state always protects the state,” Howells wrote.

In the “coming weeks,” the Briton plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as a last resort. According to Howells’ comment to Cointelegraph, he will claim violations by the UK’s High and Appeal Courts of his rights to property and a fair trial.

“The British community wants to sweep this under the rug, and I won’t let them. This won’t stop—no matter how long it takes,” he added.

The ECHR cannot overturn a UK court decision, but a verdict in Howells’ favor would require previous courts to consider whether the interpretation of the country’s laws was compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

In early January, the High Court also rejected the Briton’s claim, citing a lack of “realistic prospects” of success in his case.

Howells’ hard drive, containing the keys to his Bitcoin wallet, was mistakenly thrown into a trash bin in 2013 and subsequently taken to the Newport Docksway landfill. Since then, he has made numerous attempts to retrieve the device, offering money to authorities and proposing searches using X-ray scanning and Boston Dynamics’ robotic dogs.

In 2025–2026, UK authorities plan to close the Newport landfill. Howells has already expressed his willingness to purchase part of the site to continue his search.

Experts believe the likelihood of finding the hard drive at the landfill and retrieving data from it is close to zero.