Laura Adal
Director, Global Organized Crime Index, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Independent Expert
With over 30 years’ experience Adrian Wilkinson is an internationally recognised and leading forensic explosives engineer with expertise in explosives, weapon systems, blast analysis and sanctions investigations.
Adrian has examined countless finds of weapons, ammunition and explosives, and scenes of explosions; with his expertise utilised internationally. He has provided many expert witness or equivalent statements for both the prosecution and defence and given expert witness testimony or advice for many courts and organizations, both in the UK and internationally, including: Crown Courts, High Courts, UN Security Council Sanctions Committees and the International Criminal Court.
Adrian previously served for 20 years in the British Army, primarily as an Ammunition Technical Officer (ATO), which included operational EOD experience in Northern Ireland (1988 and 1990), Gulf 1991, Falkland Islands (1993), Bosnia (1997), and Albania (1998 – 1999). Since leaving the military in 2000 he was Head of Technology and Standards at the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) for nearly 3 years, after which he became Director of the UN Disarmament Mission (SEESAC) in the Balkans for almost 5 years. He took a short break from UN work to return to UK as the Head of Explosion and Ballistic Protection at the UK Home Office Scientific Development Branch (now C.A.S.T) for eighteen months. He returned to the UN as the consultant Chief Technical Advisor on Weapons and Ammunition in the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs. In March 2013 he was appointed by the UN Secretary General as a Sanctions Investigator Arms) on the Panel of Experts for the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee for Sudan (2013 – 2015) and subsequently for the UN Security Council Sanctions Committees for Yemen (2016 to 2018) and Libya (2019).
He has unrivalled experience in the investigation of explosive attacks against commercial vessels, and investogated the attacks on the HSV Swift, MT Brillante Virtuoso, MT Galicia Spirit, MT Muskie, MV Abqaiq MV Ince Inebolu, MV Arsan, Fujairah Tankers Attack (12 May 2019) and Hormuz Tankers Attack (13 June 2019).
Adrian’s 30 years of service, particularly those in conflict or immediate post-conflict environments, have given him an unrivalled level of expertise in weapons counter proliferation and sanctions investigations.