8.000 BTC Still Buried Alive as Appeal Rejected: BTC Recovery Battle Heading Towards Europe

The desperate battle of a British man to recover about 8,000 bitcoins, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has been blocked again, forcing him to take his battle to Europe. Appeal rejected: 8,000 BTC stuck as Man's Battle moves to Europe A British man accidentally threw away a hard drive containing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoins, facing another legal hurdle in the battle to reclaim it. James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, Wales, lost access to around 8,000 BTC in 2013 when he accidentally discarded a hard drive now believed to be buried in a landfill. Despite multiple attempts to retrieve it, his latest appeal to the Royal Court of Justice has been rejected. “Appeal to the Royal Court of Appeals: rejected,” he shared on the social network X on March 14. Howells added: The unfair system of England attacks again... The state always protects the state. Howells spent many years trying to get permission to search for a landfill site, arguing that recovering the hard drive could restore his lost assets, now valued at over 600 million dollars. He proposed several solutions, including giving the Newport City Council a share of the proceeds, funding an environmentally compliant excavation, and even offering to buy the landfill site to conduct the search himself. However, the council has consistently rejected his requests, citing concerns about the environment and legal ownership rights to the contents of the landfill. A court document dated March 13, shared by Howells on X, confirms the decision made by Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Nugee. The ruling states: "Decision: dismissed." Lord Justice Nugee explains his reason: I do not believe that the appeal petition proposed has a real chance of success. There is no other compelling reason for the appeal petition to be accepted and therefore must be denied a license. Howells has now vowed to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), writing on X: "Next stop: ECHR." The ECHR, based in Strasbourg, France, deals with cases related to human rights violations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Despite continuous legal setbacks, Howells remains determined to pursue all possible legal avenues in an effort to recover his lost bitcoins. His decision to take the matter to an international court shows that he continues to fight against the UK government. Whether the ECHR will take on his case remains to be seen.