Alan Vial jailed for life for murder of Robert Wilkin

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Alan Vial was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Robert Wilkin at the Central Criminal Court on 7 March 2025. The murder took place in Donegal on 25 June 2023.

A jury convicted Vial and Nikita Burns by a 10 to two majority after finding both guilty of murder. The court imposed the mandatory life sentence on each defendant at a sentencing hearing.

Vial and Burns appealed their convictions, arguing that the jury was prejudiced by Burns’s statements and that her admissions should not have been heard. At the Court of Appeal hearing on 23 July 2026, judgment was reserved.