Overview
- Scotland’s High Court convicted Robert Barr of running a plot to steal up to £2 million in cryptocurrency from his prison cell and sentenced him to eight years in prison.
- Prosecutors say Barr organised the scheme using contraband mobile phones and online contact from HMP Edinburgh, with messages seized from his phone showing months of planning and talk that contemplated threats or violence.
- The plan relied on two accomplices breaking into a Midlothian home and forcing the victim to install AnyDesk so Barr could take remote control of the victim’s computer and transfer funds.
- A January 2024 burglary did take a hardware wallet but the thieves lacked the PIN or recovery phrase, and a second raid on April 17, 2024 failed after the occupants saw the men on a doorbell camera and refused to open the door.
- Courts treated the case as organised crime, jailing accomplices Sean Favier for four years and Iain Doyle for five years, and highlighting wider concerns about rising ‘wrench’ attacks on self‑custodied crypto and the threat posed by contraband phones in prisons.