Ten months after three masked men broke into his home near Birmingham, a British crypto investor identified only as James has described to the BBC how he was beaten with a hammer for 45 minutes while his attackers tried to force him to hand over his digital assets. His wife, then seven months pregnant, was held down with a pillow pressed over her face in the next room.
The attack happened in Solihull in December 2025. According to James's account, reported by the BBC's Joe Tidy and published on 2 October 2026, three men entered wearing gloves and balaclavas. "I see gloves coming in, balaclavas," he told the broadcaster, describing the moment the intruders appeared.
A fourth accomplice directed the robbery from outside the property via a FaceTime video call, instructing the men inside in real time. "Show me everything on his phone, show me his apps," the accomplice is reported to have said, before threatening the couple directly: "If you don't send that money now, we're going to stab your wife in the stomach and kill your baby."
James was struck repeatedly in the face, head and ribs, leaving him with multiple serious injuries to his head, hands and ribs. Describing the treatment of his wife, he said: "He puts a pillow over her face. He's literally suffocating her."
Cash, crypto and watches taken
The gang left with several hundred thousand pounds in cryptocurrency along with several Rolex watches. A getaway driver waited outside throughout the ordeal, his face uncovered. The BBC reported that the ringleader was said to have allocated £10,000 each to the men who entered the house, keeping the remainder of the proceeds himself.
James's wife went on to give birth to the baby at term. James, who began investing in cryptocurrency as an amateur in 2020 and left his job in 2023 to trade full-time, told the BBC he lost everything in the robbery and is now attempting to return to his previous profession.
A record year for 'wrench attacks'
Police in the West Midlands had not identified any of the three men who entered the property ten months after the attack, the BBC reported. Crimestoppers has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
The case was reported alongside figures from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis showing that violent crypto-related thefts totalled $30 million (£22.6 million) globally between January and June 2026 alone. The firm's data, cited by the BBC, suggests 2026 is on track to be the worst year on record for this category of crime, with associated home burglaries also on the rise. France was named as the country recording the highest number of such attacks.
The Solihull case adds a British example to a pattern analysts and police forces across Europe have been tracking with increasing concern: attackers who identify crypto holders, then use direct physical coercion rather than hacking to extract funds, often coordinating the robbery remotely in real time.
