Scottish drug dealer needs Apple's help to unlock a Mac holding evidence

Milan Apple Store.jpg
Milan Apple Store.jpg (Image credit: Stephen Warwick/iMore)

What you need to know

  • A jailed drug dealer says he wants to go to the Apple Store so he can get help from a Genius.
  • It seems his Mac might hold evidence that could prove important in the man's defense.

A jailed drug dealer has asked to be allowed a trip to a local Apple Store – so he can ask a Genius for their help.

According to local reports and Apple Insider, the man – William Binnie – is of the belief that his Mac holds important information that could help his defense.

Said to have benefited from criminal conduct to the tune of £678,000 ($957,000) the man says that the computer holds information about legitimate business dealings that relate to the money in question.

Evidence was due to begin on the Proceeds of Crime move but Binnie's counsel told the High Court in Edinburgh he hopes to recover information from an Apple computer that would help his defence.He claims it holds records of non-criminal business dealings.

Having seemingly forgotten the login credentials for his Mac, Binnie believes Apple will be able to "break into" it, somehow. That seems highly unlikely, at least at Apple Store level.

Mr Moir said [defense counsel]: "He advises me he does not know and has forgotten the access code to the computer and thought 'That's it, it has been lost'."The defence counsel said Binnie subsequently discovered if he takes the computer to an Apple store staff would have the facilities "to break into the computer".

Something tells me that isn't going to go the way he expects it to. The judge in charge of the case has now put it off until November, so we'll have to wait a few months to find out how this all pans out!

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.