On Friday, September 25, 2026, The Sun reported that a Scottish prisoner has admitted to orchestrating a plot to rob a cryptocurrency investor’s home while serving time behind bars, in a case prosecutors described as displaying an unusually sophisticated level of organized crime.
Robert Barr, 29, appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh, where he admitted being involved in serious organized crime between January and April 2024, including arranging two separate break-ins at a house in Midlothian aimed at stealing cryptocurrency assets. Barr was incarcerated at Edinburgh’s Saughton prison at the time he directed the scheme, using a mobile phone he was not permitted to possess.
According to prosecutor David Dickson KC, Barr learned that the male homeowner, a co-founder of a cryptocurrency startup, had built up holdings potentially worth more than £2 million after investing in digital currency since around 2014. The homeowner had kept his crypto holdings largely private, though a social media account he used was linked to accounts associated with the industry.
The first break-in took place in January 2024, when intruders took a hardware wallet device along with notepads containing information related to crypto storage. Investigators said the cryptocurrency itself was ultimately safe, as the thieves did not obtain the PIN code or recovery phrase needed to access the funds.
Messages later recovered from Barr’s phone, seized by police in June 2024, showed him instructing an accomplice on how to carry out a follow-up raid in April. He allegedly told the associate to get the homeowner in front of his computer, install remote-access software, and force him to transfer funds from his digital wallet to other addresses, suggesting the operation would need only a few minutes of control over the house.
That second attempt failed on April 17, 2024, when the homeowner and his wife grew suspicious of two hooded men who knocked at their door. Using a video doorbell, the wife spoke to the men, one of whom was later identified as Sean Favier, before the pair left without gaining entry.
Dickson told the court that data extracted from Barr’s phone confirmed his role in coordinating and supporting associates involved in cryptocurrency theft, describing him as the head of the organised group behind the offences.
Favier, 26, previously of Larbert in Stirlingshire, separately pleaded guilty to attending the Midlothian property in an attempt to steal a significant amount of cryptocurrency.
Lord Cubie, presiding over the case, adjourned sentencing for both men to allow background reports to be prepared. Barr and Favier remain in custody ahead of that hearing.
Source: The Sun
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