Scottish Court Jails Robert Barr for 8 Years Over Prison Crypto Plot
A Scottish court jailed Robert Barr for eight years for plotting a £2 million ($2.7 million) crypto theft from prison. Accomplices were to force the victim to install AnyDesk; the plot failed when the couple refused to open their door.
A prisoner who tried to steal up to £2 million ($2.7 million) in crypto by directing accomplices from his cell at HMP Edinburgh has been jailed for eight years. The High Court in Glasgow sentenced Robert Barr, according to a sentencing statement published Tuesday.
Barr, 29, was already serving a 21-month sentence for fraud when he organised the plot. He had a previous crypto fraud conviction. His accomplices, Sean Favier, 26, and Iain Doyle, 37, received four and five years respectively. All three pleaded guilty to involvement in serious organised crime, according to the court's sentencing statement published Nov. 10.
How the plot worked
Favier and Doyle were to enter the victims' home in Midlothian, near Edinburgh, and make the man download AnyDesk, a remote-access program. Barr could then control the computer from prison and move funds to wallets he controlled.
The pair went to the house at about 11:30 p.m. on April 17, 2024. The couple saw them on their doorbell camera and refused to open the door, and the men left.
"This was a crime which married 21st-century computer sophistication with old-fashioned housebreaking"
Lord Cubie
Lord Cubie said the couple "had the sense not to open their front door."
Investigation and sentencing
Investigators uncovered the plot after seizing Barr's phone on June 25, 2024. Messages on the device detailed his instructions and plainly contemplated threats and/or violence. Prosecutors described Barr as a "sophisticated cybercriminal."
The victim was a co-founder of a crypto startup, according to BBC reporting. Associates had burgled the house in January 2024 and taken a crypto wallet, but could not access the funds without its PIN.
The judge called Barr's prior conviction and his use of illicit means of contact from prison a "material aggravating factor." He said he would have imposed eight years and ten months after a trial.
A serious crime prevention order hearing for Barr is set for Nov. 17. Barr is in custody awaiting potential extradition.
Wider context
Wrench attacks, physical coercion aimed at forcing crypto holders to hand over assets, are on pace for a record year, with more than $30 million stolen in the first half of 2026, according to a Chainalysis report. Other recent UK cases include three teenagers jailed earlier this year over a $4.3 million knifepoint crypto theft and three men sentenced last month over a failed home invasion aimed at stealing crypto.
