Sliabh Liag murder used as case study in Forensic Science Ireland report
Forensic Science Ireland have used the murder of a man murdered in Donegal and thrown off the cliffs at Sliabh Liag as a case study.
In its annual report for 2025, FSI have highlighted the murder of Robert Wilkin in July 2023.
Last year, Alan Vial (41) of Drumanoo Head, Killybegs and Nikita Burns (25), of Carrick, were convicted of murdering 66-year-old Mr Wilkin. They were convicted following a trial in the Central Criminal Court and sentenced to life imprisonment last March. Vial and Burns have since appealed the convictions.
FSI have details how Mr Wilkin, whose body was recovered from the sea at Sliabh Liag, was identified through fingerprint comparison and DNA familial testing.
“The death was deemed suspicious, with investigators believing Robert Wilkin had been assaulted in a vehicle prior to his arrival at the cliff location,” the report said. “FSI supported the investigation with extensive laboratory-based examinations.
“Key exhibits examined included an interior roof covering and a section of car seat from a suspect vehicle, as well as a rock recovered from the cliff edge. Examinations included bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA), hair examination, and DNA profiling.
“The roof covering and section of car seat displayed extensive bloodstaining, from which DNA profiles matching Robert Wilkin were obtained.”
Robert 'Robin' Wilkin who was found dead in the sea at the foot of Sliabh Liag cliffs.
The rock was described as being “heavily bloodstained” and human hairs were present, with DNA profiles from both the blood and hairs also matching Mr Wilkin.
The report added: The case proceeded to trial in January 2025, where Alan Vial and Nikita Burns pleaded not guilty. Following a two-month trial, during which several FSI scientists gave evidence, the jury returned majority guilty verdicts. Both individuals were subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.”
The trial, which began last February and continued into Mrach, had heard unique evidence from geologist Dr Sophie O’Connor, who used her expertise to conclude that the bloodied rock found near the top of Sliabh Liag was not natural to that area.
She discovered a wall at the scene where Mr Wilkin was assaulted in Roshine which was missing a rock of similar size. When she checked Google Street View, she found the wall had been intact in 2021 and the rock that was now missing was similar to the bloodied rock at Sliabh Liag in shape, size, curvature and surface features including lichen staining.
The irregular rock, weighing 3.5 kilograms, contained hundreds of hairs and was heavily bloodstained with DNA matching that of Mr Wilkin. The rock measured about 20cm by 20cm with a depth of 9cm.
Wilkin suffered two blows to the back of the head with a rock that either killed him or knocked him unconscious. Vial and Burns then drove him to the top of the cliffs and threw his body over the edge.
Vial and Burns cleaned the car, but later crashed it and Vial was arrested drunk-driving and the car was seized.
Burns, meanwhile, went to a friend’s house, where she told several people that she and Vial had “battered” a man with a rock and thrown him over the cliffs.
A decision on their appeal has yet to be made.
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