A woman has revealed how she accidentally threw away the “key” to her boyfriend’s £569m Bitcoin fortune, as he fights for the right to search a huge landfill in a bid to find it.
Halfina Eddy-Evans, speaking for the first time about her ex-boyfriend James Howell’s cyber nightmare, admitted taking the hard drive to the top in Wales but claims she did so at his request.
Howells claims that he mined Bitcoin himself in 2009 and then forgot about it. But after discovering the 8,000 coins are now worth around £569m, he is fighting for the right to register the landfill run by Newport Council.
Halfina said he took the hard drive containing the tip’s “key” nine or ten years ago. The couple has since separated.
She said: ‘I hope he finds it, not that I want a penny of his money, but that will shut him up!’
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the mother of his two teenage children admitted: ‘Yes, I threw away his rubbish, he asked me to.
‘The computer part had been thrown into a black sack along with other unwanted belongings and he begged me to take it away, saying: ‘Here’s a bag of rubbish to take to the tip.’
“I had no idea what it contained, but I reluctantly dropped it off at the local depot on the way home from school.
‘I thought he should be doing his errands, not me, but I did it to help.
“Losing him wasn’t my fault.”
He added: “I would love nothing more than for him to find it.” I’m sick and tired of hearing about it.
Halfina Eddy-Evans told how she played a role in removing the computer hard drive that could unlock her millions, but did it on her orders – and accidentally.
James Howells has vowed to take a tip to court in his final attempt to uncover the “key” to the Bitcoin jackpot.
That digital key is on the hard drive of a laptop that he believes is currently buried somewhere among 110,000 tons of trash in a nearby landfill, now covered in grass.
Ms Eddy-Evans broke her silence after Howells, 39, vowed to take advice to court in her latest attempt to uncover the “key” to the Bitcoin jackpot.
You are fighting for the right to unearth information where you believe your lost and buried hard drive has been destroyed by mistake.
In a last-ditch attempt to help unlock his fortune, he is preparing to take Newport City Council in Wales to court.
The “lost” fortune at current prices makes his Bitcoin worth £569 million and he has pledged to donate ten per cent of the profits to the local area – enough to transform Newport into “the Dubai or Las Vegas of the UK”.
He claims his partner at the time had thrown away his unwanted belongings, including computer equipment containing a vital password.
Mrs Eddy-Evans from Newport, Gwent, admitted: “Yes, I threw away his rubbish, he asked me to.”
‘It was years ago, maybe nine or ten years, and they accidentally threw it away.
“But I hope he finds it, not that I want a cent of his money, but that will shut him up!”
He had acquired 8,000 coins after 10 weeks of experimenting with the new cryptocurrency craze.
At the time he did not realize his value and had to stop exploiting after complaints from his then partner, Hafina. She kept her laptop in her room and when it was on, the noise of the fan would let her sleep.
Shortly afterward, James spilled a glass of lemonade on his laptop, and despite efforts to clean it, it never worked properly again.
He sold the components piecemeal, kept the hard drive, and transferred all the photos and music on it to an Apple computer. The only thing he couldn’t copy was the small file containing the access code to his Bitcoins because it wasn’t compatible with Apple’s operating system.
He threw the hard drive in the kind of junk drawer most of us have at home and forgot about it for the next three years, concentrating on work and family life; by then, he and Hafina had two young children.
The exasperated mother said: “It sounds like he’s blaming me, but I don’t think he really is, we’re not even talking right now.”
Recalling the time his then-partner asked him for a favor, he explained: “He said there were a few black bags of garbage to take to the landfill, three or four, and he asked me to do it.
The exasperated mother said: “It sounds like he’s blaming me, but I don’t think he really is, we’re not even talking right now.”
General view of the Newport waste and recycling landfill, where James Howells believes the hard drive containing the password to his crypto account is located.
‘Reluctantly, I did but I had no idea what it contained, a hard drive linked to Bitcoin that then became a big thing, and has since exploded!
‘Losing him wasn’t my fault!’
‘At that point, James had discarded the hard drive, thrown it away and thought it was of no use.
But he now believes it could be worth a fortune and is still fighting the advice. It’s been happening for a long time.
She added: “I would love more than anything for him to find it.” I’m sick and tired of hearing about it!
“Part of me thinks the council should allow the site to be unearthed as it is not helping his mental health by being left with a fortune he can’t get his hands on.”
‘But the other party thinks that he will just leave it and let it go.
‘People keep tagging me online, my friends and random people, with their comments about losing a fortune.
‘But I say ‘Don’t ask me about that!’
I have no right to any money it may be worth. He is the father of my two children, but I don’t want a cent of his money.
The price of Bitcoin recently hit a record high of $80,000, an increase of more than 80 percent this year and the highest recorded since it was formed in 2009.
Newport Waste Recycling and Landfill. He claims his partner at the time had thrown away his unwanted belongings, including computer equipment containing a vital password.
James has started a legal fight against Newport City Council to recover his hard drive
But Howells says all Bitcoin needs to do is reach the $157,000 mark and it would break the £1bn barrier.
‘This problem will never go away. “This will always be a treasure hunt,” he said. Fortune.
“The treasure is more valuable every day and that is not going to stop.”
There are more than 1.4 million tons of waste at the landfill, but Howells says he won’t need to search for it all because he has narrowed the hard drive location to an area of 100,000 tons, the report reported. bbc.
But Newport council has repeatedly refused to allow him to register the area because “it is not possible under our environmental permit, and such work would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area”.
Howells announced last month that he would be suing the council for £495,314,800 in damages, accusing the local authority of “retaining my property without my consent”.
A first hearing on a request by the authority to dismiss it is scheduled for the beginning of the month, with a judge ruling on December 3.
A Newport City Council spokesperson said: ‘Newport City Council has been contacted several times since 2013 about the possibility of recovering a piece of IT hardware said to be at our landfill.
‘Mr Howells has been told several times by the council that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit, and that work of that nature would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.
‘The town council is the only body authorized to carry out operations in the place.
‘Mister. Howells’ claim is baseless and is strongly resisted by the council.