Files
DB-cleanup/merge-output/sources/029_Danny-Aston-Amy-Jay.txt
StellarCrowandClaude Fable 5.1 439e83a4cb feat(sources): Wayback pass, automatic trimming, detention rule, ten cases re-sourced
Second and third rounds on the dossier pipeline, reviewed locally before commit.

Retrieval
- wayback_pass.py: retries every BLOCKED/DEAD/THIN/ERROR linked source through
  the Wayback Machine; blocks carry the snapshot date, archive URL and the live
  verdict. 143 slots retried: 93 fetched, 37 no snapshot, 12 script shells, 1 PDF.
- fetch_sources.py: fetch_wayback() helper.
- add_extra_sources.py: files staged extra_* finds (web search, not on the DB
  record) into the store with a provenance note.
- Cases re-sourced by web search: 248 (Oslo: Document.no, Avisa Oslo, NRK; the
  linked Le Parisien piece is case 242 and is marked OFF-CASE), 258 Kharkiv,
  260 Singapore, 358 Bangkok, 365 Las Vegas, 388 Verneuil-sur-Seine, 390 Zoersel,
  430 Homestead. 341 of 364 cases now hold a fetched article; 11, 66 and 399
  have no public text source (podcast, police video, direct victim report).

Trimming
- auto_trim.py: case-anchored furniture cut for UNTRIMMED blocks. Finds the body
  run that mentions the case, merges across subheadings and short furniture
  gaps, drops teasers, share bars, date/URL/caption lines and subscription
  pitches; refuses pages with no record term or almost no body. 302 blocks
  trimmed; 16 left on auto-trim-review.md (7 OFF-CASE suspects). Every cut is
  labelled AUTO-TRIMMED, UNREVIEWED in the dossier; the full extract stays in
  staging/. Decisions with anchors in trim-decisions-auto.json.
- build_cases.py / verify_all.py: banners for auto-trimmed and archived blocks,
  staged-file check extended to Wayback blocks, flag legend under the record.

Detention rule
- README "Definitions": the DB field `kidnappings` is the DETENTION violence
  type (victim, guard, staff or relative held to force submission or execute
  the theft), distinct from the Kidnapping scenario (taken away and held).
- detention-flag-review.md / detention-flag-corrections.json: 40 records
  reviewed with evidence; 30 set-to-1 proposals accepted by the owner on
  2026-09-06 (listed in corrections-approved.md), 10 still open.
- apply_detention_wording.py: "Violence Used" in the 70 reviewed summaries now
  names detention explicitly (62 of 70 labelled), supported by the summary's
  own text; idempotent; supersedes the batch scripts' wording.

Worklist and docs
- sofia-worklist.md: 248 decisions, detention rule item replacing the old
  "no abduction" item, fresh-search section for the textless cases.
- README-START-HERE.md: progress notes, run commands, next steps.
- Bug fixed in passing: Wayback blocks stored in-memory text with carriage
  returns; now stored as read back from disk.

verify_all.py PASSES (2321 checks).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01GZZENdTLzNGsbNy4DyF1yt
2026-09-06 19:36:45 +02:00

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15 KiB
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This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters
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================================================================================================
CASE 029 | Danny Aston & Amy Jay | January 27, 2018 | UK
================================================================================================
DATABASE RECORD
id 29
date January 27, 2018
original_date January 27, 2018
year 2018
month 1
quarter 2018-Q1
victim Danny Aston & Amy Jay
location Moulsford, Oxfordshire, England
country UK
scenario Home Invasion
description Armed home invasion of Bitcoin trading firm owner
kidnappings 0
violence_torture 1
drugs_alcohol 0
weapons 0
theft 0
life_taken 0
money_wanted (null)
coin_type (null)
reports Business Insider
notes failed attempt
has_processed_date 1
created_at 2025-11-13 05:44:45
(flag legend: 'kidnappings' is the DETENTION flag — 1 when the victim was held against
their will at any point, tied, locked in, held at gunpoint or taken away; it is NOT the
same as the 'Kidnapping' scenario, which means taken away and held. See README, Definitions.)
AI SUMMARY [generated at bulk import, NOT verified against sources]
**Victim:** Danny Aston & Amy Jay
**Attackers:** Unknown number of perpetrators
**Attack Method:** Home Invasion
**Violence Used:** Physical violence
**Crypto Stolen:** No theft completed
**Status:** Investigation ongoing
LINKED SOURCES
[url] https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-raid-moulsford-transfer-failed-thieves-got-nothing-2018-2
NOTES ON THIS FILE
* matched to sheet row 30: exact match on victim + year, unique on both sides
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARTICLE 1
Source Business Insider
URL https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-raid-moulsford-transfer-failed-thieves-got-nothing-2018-2
Origin reported_K&R sheet, row 30, column "Articles"
Length 3,912 chars
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Britain's first Bitcoin heist as trader forced at gunpoint to transfer cyber currency
Danny Aston lives in a rented four-bedroom converted barn estimated to be worth at least £700,000
Danny Aston lives in a rented four-bedroom converted barn estimated to be worth at least £700,000 Credit: Ric Mellis/INS
By Tony Diver
28 January 2018 • 6:42pm
Armed robbers broke into the family home of a city financier turned Bitcoin trader and forced him to transfer the digital currency at gunpoint, in what is believed to be the first heist of its kind in the UK.
Four robbers in balaclavas forced their way into the home of Danny Aston, 30, who runs a digital currency trading firm, before reportedly tying up a woman and forcing Mr Aston to transfer an unknown quantity of the cryptocurrency.
Mr Aston lives in the picturesque village of Moulsford in South Oxfordshire, where episodes of Midsomer Murders have been filmed, in a rented four-bedroom converted barn estimated to be worth at least £700,000 on a private drive.
Police were called at around 9.40am on Monday to attend the home after raiders are reported to have entered the property by kicking down the door.
The Mail on Sunday reported that the men tied up a woman and kept a baby outside in a pram while forcing Mr Aston to transfer the Bitcoin. The value of a single Bitcoin is now around £8,000.
A neighbour confirmed on Sunday the property where the violent burglary took place, but said that Mr Aston and a woman believed to be his partner left Moulsford on Monday to stay with relatives and have not returned.
They said: "I was not here at the time, but I know the couple have left and are staying with relatives, they haven't been back since.
"We are all obviously a bit shaken up, even though a few days have passed now. It is not what you expect to happen around here."
Moulsford
The raid happened in the village of Moulsford Credit: Ric Mellis/INS
Mr Aston - who lives with his 31-year-old business partner Amy Jay, according to the latest Companies House records - previously worked at Trayport, a London-based financial software company that operates a platform for trading energy commodities.
In June 2017, he established his own digital currency firm just before Bitcoins huge surge in value in July, according to Companies House.
Both Mr Aston and Ms Jay are listed online as directors of Aston Digital Currencies Ltd, and a company called Butler Hosting, which specialises in “data processing, hosting and related activities”.
A user named Danny Aston has previously been active on trading site Poloniex, which allows users to trade and store digital currency.
A local resident described the victim of the attack as well-known, but suggested that the small village community had been left dazed by the news.
“Everyone is shocked I think,” he said. “We think we live in a safer space, and then this happens and everyone gets scared.”
A police spokesman said: “Thames Valley Police is investigating an aggravated burglary which occurred at a property in Moulsford on Monday.
“Officers were called at about 9.40am to a report that offenders had entered a residential property off Reading Road and threatened the occupants. No one was seriously injured during the incident.
“An investigation into the incident is underway and officers attended nearby Moulsford School as a precautionary measure. It is not believed there was a threat to anyone at the school.
"Officers are particularly interested in speaking to anyone travelling through the village on the A329 Reading Road between 7.30am and 10.30am on Monday who has Dashcam footage or anyone with mobile phone footage.
“People in the local community may notice an increased presence of officers in the area while our enquiries are ongoing. The investigation is in its early stages however initial enquiries suggest this may be a targeted incident.
“No arrests have been made at this stage."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARTICLE 2
Source Business Insider
URL (no URL recorded for this column)
Origin reported_K&R sheet, row 30, column "Article 2"
Length 2,613 chars
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armed raiders who held 2 bitcoin traders at gunpoint in rural England didn't actually manage to steal anything
By Kieran Corcoran
The approximate location of the raid in Moulsford, Oxfordshire.
Armed criminals attacked a home in Oxfordshire, Britain, last month.
It was the registered address of a cryptocurrency company.
Four men broke in and tried to force inhabitants to make a transfer.
But it failed and the raiders left with nothing, police said.
Officers are still looking for the men and issued descriptions.
Armed burglars who broke into the home of two British bitcoin traders and held them at gunpoint didn't actually manage to steal any cryptocurrency, police have said.
Four men, who are now on the run from Thames Valley Police, tried to force two traders to transfer a large quantity of bitcoin after kicking down the door of a home in rural Moulsford, Oxfordshire, on January 22.
The raid was carried out on the home of Danny Aston and his girlfriend Amy Jay, who had used it as the registered address of their business, Aston Digital Currencies.
But, according to an update on the case more than a week later, the transfer didn't actually work. They did not take any material possessions either, meaning they left empty-handed.
A statement released on Tuesday by Thames Valley Police described the incident:
"The offenders threatened the two men and a woman who were inside the property, with what appeared to be a firearm and demanded one of the occupants to transfer bitcoins electronically to another account.
"The victim was struck to his head but was not seriously injured during the incident. He attended the John Radcliffe Hospital and was later discharged. Nothing was stolen during the incident."
The Oxford Mail local newspaper confirmed with the police force that the transfer did not work, and were told by a spokesman: "It's correct to say that the attempted transaction of bitcoins failed."
"Targeted incident"
Police also released slightly more detail on the suspects, describing their race (three were black, one was white) and what they were wearing ("tracksuits/sports clothing").
Officers are still looking for the men. They asked anybody with dashcam video footage or other evidence from the morning of the raid to contact them.
Police have not issued further information on who the men might have been, but suggested that the raid "may be a targeted incident," implying a level of sophistication beyond that of small-time criminals.
Cryptocurrency and crime are overlapping more and more since the dramatic spike in the value of leading currencies like bitcoin.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FETCHED ARTICLE 1 [AUTO-TRIMMED — UNREVIEWED]
!! Furniture was cut by a script keyed on this case's record, not by a person.
!! It may still carry passages about OTHER cases from a round-up article.
!! The full page extract is kept in staging/ if a cut needs revisiting.
Source businessinsider.com
URL https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-raid-moulsford-transfer-failed-thieves-got-nothing-2018-2
Field url
Retrieved 2026-09-05T12:56:08+00:00 via raw HTTP retrieval, deterministic extraction (HTTP 200)
Language unknown
Kept paragraphs headline [0] + 4-27 of 28
Length 4,557 chars
Integrity sha256 ec8bd2b91fddef70a4d26a81e2bb921ab93fac2dfa030715d2929335594f5490
Trimmed AUTO-TRIMMED, unreviewed: kept paragraphs 4-27 plus headline [0]; dropped 3 leading and 0 trailing paragraphs. Case-term hits on page: 11.
Caveat retrieved from a live page on the date above. Unlike text copied
from the spreadsheet, there is no second copy to hash it against.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL (unknown, verbatim as retrieved)
Bitcoin Raid, Moulsford: Transfer Failed, Thieves Got Nothing - Business Insider
Armed criminals attacked a home in Oxfordshire, Britain, last month.
It was the registered address of a cryptocurrency company.
Four men broke in and tried to force inhabitants to make a transfer.
But it failed and the raiders left with nothing, police said.
Officers are still looking for the men and issued descriptions.
Armed burglars who broke into the home of two British bitcoin traders and held them at gunpoint didn't actually manage to steal any cryptocurrency, police have said.
Four men, who are now on the run from Thames Valley Police, tried to force two traders to transfer a large quantity of bitcoin after kicking down the door of a home in rural Moulsford, Oxfordshire, on January 22.
The raid was carried out on the home of Danny Aston and his girlfriend Amy Jay, who had used it as the registered address of their business, Aston Digital Currencies.
But, according to an update on the case more than a week later, the transfer didn't actually work. They did not take any material possessions either, meaning they left empty-handed.
A statement released on Tuesday by Thames Valley Police described the incident:
"The offenders threatened the two men and a woman who were inside the property, with what appeared to be a firearm and demanded one of the occupants to transfer bitcoins electronically to another account.
"The victim was struck to his head but was not seriously injured during the incident. He attended the John Radcliffe Hospital and was later discharged. Nothing was stolen during the incident."
The Oxford Mail local newspaper confirmed with the police force that the transfer did not work, and were told by a spokesman: "It's correct to say that the attempted transaction of bitcoins failed."
Take a smarter break in your day - and see how far you get.
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Police also released slightly more detail on the suspects, describing their race (three were black, one was white) and what they were wearing ("tracksuits/sports clothing").
Officers are still looking for the men. They asked anybody with dashcam video footage or other evidence from the morning of the raid to contact them.
Police have not issued further information on who the men might have been, but suggested that the raid "may be a targeted incident," implying a level of sophistication beyond that of small-time criminals.
Cryptocurrency and crime are overlapping more and more since the dramatic spike in the value of leading currencies like bitcoin.
Officers from London's Metropolitan Police told Business Insider towards the end of last year that bitcoin is so widely used in the city that even regular drug dealers are using it to launder their takings.
Check out Business Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Kieran was an Executive Editor at Business Insider and its first Deputy Bureau Chief in the UK.He spearheaded BIs work on the war in Ukraine and helped lead its breaking-news effort.He joined Business Insider in 2017, when it had no general-news desk in London, and built that team to more than a dozen people.He helped oversee coverage spanning politics, defense, business, science, health, entertainment, royalty, and lifestyle.In his time at BI, the UK news team won a Drum Award for its Ukraine reporting. Its work was twice shortlisted twice in the British Journalism Awards and highly commended once.He occasionally broke ranks to blog about Latin.Before Business Insider he worked for Dow Jones, MailOnline, The Sun, and The Independent.Kieran graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in English. He speaks some Russian and less French.He is on X with the handle @kj_corcoran.Notable work from his teams includes:The Unyielding City: How Ukraine lost Bakhmut and Russia won a hollow victoryIran will pay for gender-transition surgery, but it comes at a cost — your dignityA bright, talented Ukrainian journalist signed up to help Fox News cover the war. Two months later she was dead.Salt Bae's former employees describe tip theft, discrimination, and polyester uniformsI feel conned into keeping this babyHow an entire nation embraced toxic bleach as a COVID-19 miracle cureA Saudi princess, silencedInside London's derelict 'Billionaires Row' — a mile-long street of mystery, murder, and tax avoidance
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generated from attacks-export-Gart-website.json + reported_K&R | case 029
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