Prisoner Jailed for 8 Years Over $2.7M Crypto Theft Plot Run From His Cell

Robert Barr, 29, has been jailed for eight years for directing an attempted theft of cryptocurrency worth up to £2 million from his prison cell. The case shows how an online plan can rely on a physical break-in, and how prison did not prevent Barr from organising serious crime.

His accomplices, Sean Favier and Iain Doyle, were sentenced to four and five years respectively for their roles in the plot. They went to a couple’s home in Midlothian in April 2024 intending to make the victim install remote-access software, but left after the residents spotted them on a doorbell camera. Investigators found months of planning on Barr’s seized phone; he had previously burgled the home with associates, who took a crypto wallet but lacked its PIN.