Scottish court jails man for eight years over a £2 million crypto theft plot directed from his prison cell

A Scottish judge has jailed a man for eight years for directing, from his prison cell, an attempt to steal cryptocurrency worth up to £2 million from a couple at their home in April 2024. Robert Barr and two accomplices, Sean Favier and Iain Doyle, pleaded guilty to being involved in serious organised crime, according to the sentencing statement of Lord Cubie at the High Court in Glasgow on November 10. Favier was sentenced to four years and Doyle to five.

How the crypto theft plot was meant to work

According to the judge's account of the agreed facts, Favier and Doyle were to gain access to the house and make the victim go onto his computer and download AnyDesk, a program that lets a user control a device remotely. Barr would then take over the computer from prison and send the couple's cryptocurrency to accounts under his control.

The preparation took months and involved several people, the judge said: identifying the victims as holders of cryptocurrency, gathering images and information to locate the house, and reconnaissance. It was pieced together from Barr's phone. The messages exchanged "plainly contemplated threats and/or violence," Lord Cubie said.

On the night, the two men rang the doorbell at about 11:30 p.m. They were seen on camera, spoken to through an intercom, and left quickly without getting in.

What the judge said

Lord Cubie called it "a crime which married 21st century computer sophistication with old fashioned housebreaking." He said it was frustrated only because the victims "had the sense not to open their front door" late at night to unknown men in dark clothing with their faces obscured.

Barr accepted being the head of the group that carried out the offense, the judge said. He had a previous conviction for a fraud involving cryptocurrency, for which he received 21 months, and organized the new offense from his cell "using plainly illicit means of being in contact or online," which the judge treated as aggravating factors. Barr's lawyer told the court that he is in custody awaiting potential extradition, according to the judge's statement, which gives no further detail.

The offense carries a maximum of ten years. The judge said he would have imposed eight years and ten months on Barr after a trial and reduced it because of the guilty plea.

Why it matters

In our assessment, the case shows a kind of crypto crime that software security does not address: forcing a holder to hand over access in person. The plan combined that pressure with a remote-control tool that is ordinarily used for technical support. The victims' protection, in the end, was a camera, an intercom and a closed door.

What it could mean for crypto holders

Other security stories we covered on November 10 and 11 were about technology: software that runs a hot wallet, a hijacked website domain, and a phone software flaw reported by Binance. This one was about people knowing who holds crypto and where they live. The judge said the planning included identifying the victims as holders of cryptocurrency.