James Howells, the Welsh man who misplaced $678 million value of bitcoin in landfill over ten years in the past, has misplaced his UK court docket attraction and is now planning to take his case to the European Court docket of Human Rights.
In a press release shared with Protos, Howells shared a snippet of the order issued by Court docket of Enchantment Choose Lord Justice Nugee yesterday.
Choose Nugee rejected his software for permission to attraction and claimed it didn’t have “any real prospect of success,” and that “There is no other compelling reason why the appeal must be heard.”
Regardless of this setback, Howells claims it’s “time to take this case to the highest level possible, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR),” and says he might be exploring interesting to the ECHR.
Enchantment request to the Royal Court docket of Enchantment: refused
The Nice British Injustice System strikes once more…
The state at all times protects the state.
Subsequent cease: ECHR pic.twitter.com/KFYRSbsEPo
— James Howells (@howelzy) March 14, 2025
Howells believes the UK courts have set a “dangerous precedent for property rights in the UK,” and that his property rights, alongside together with his rights to a good trial, “have been denied twice by outdated UK courts.”
“Despite the courts acknowledging that Newport City Council does not own my Bitcoin, they have ruled that because my hard drive was mistakenly discarded in 2013 by a known third party, the Council now has the absolute right to prevent me from recovering it, ignoring fundamental property rights and disregarding numerous historical precedents in the process.”
“If this ruling stands, it means that any UK resident who mistakenly disposes of valuable property, or has it disposed of by someone else, can be permanently denied access to it, with no legal remedy,” Howells claims.
Howells probability of discovering bitcoin 1 in 902 million
Howells misplaced his UK Excessive Court docket case final January. He shortly utilized to attraction the choice and mentioned that he would make use of using an “AI agent” specialised in UK legislation.
Craig Wright, one other Brit who used AI to put in writing his UK court docket appeals, was fined £225,000 ($290,000) over his improper use of AI and was instructed that he “risked significantly misleading the court.”
Then in February it was revealed that Newport Metropolis Council plans to close down the landfill website by 2026 and switch it right into a photo voltaic farm.
Howells’ case partially depends on his plan to search out the Bitcoin exhausting drive, however UK waste administration agency Enterprise Waste estimates that Howells has a 0.00000011% probability of discovering it.
Its spokesperson instructed The Block that Howells’ bitcoin drive “has been exposed to the elements, leachate, heat and also been subject to compacting,” leading to a “0% chance of recovery.”