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A UK woman has revealed she accidentally disposed of a hard drive containing her ex-boyfriend James Howells' Bitcoin fortune, now valued at a staggering £569 million ($711 million).
Halfina Eddy-Evans, who shares two teenage sons with Howells, told the Daily Mail that nearly a decade ago, she discarded the hard drive during a cleanup at his request. “Yes, I threw away his rubbish. He asked me to,” she explained. “I had no idea what was inside. Losing it wasn’t my fault.”
Howells, an IT worker from Newport, Wales, mined 8,000 Bitcoins in 2009 when the cryptocurrency was worth next to nothing. Years later, he realized the hard drive, containing the private key needed to access his Bitcoins, had been lost. It now lies buried beneath an estimated 100,000 tonnes of waste in a Newport landfill.
Frustrated by repeated refusals to excavate the landfill, Howells has filed a £495 million ($619 million) lawsuit against Newport City Council. He accuses the council of blocking access to the site, which he believes holds his life-changing fortune. “This treasure hunt isn’t going away,” Howells told Fortune. “The value grows every day.”
However, the council has refused to grant excavation permits, citing significant environmental risks and logistical challenges. A spokesperson for the council stated, “Excavation is not possible under our environmental permit, and such work would have a huge negative impact on the area.”
Eddy-Evans, meanwhile, says she has no interest in the fortune even if it is recovered. “I hope he finds it - not that I want a penny. I just want him to stop talking about it,” she said, adding that the ordeal has taken a toll on Howells’ mental health.
Despite the legal and environmental hurdles, Howells remains determined to retrieve the hard drive. He has promised to donate 10% of the recovered fortune to transform Newport into “the Dubai or Las Vegas of the UK.”
The court is expected to hear Howells’ case in early December. For now, the hard drive - and its immense wealth - remains out of reach.
