Ed Hammersley

After graduating from the University of York in 2002, Ed worked at analytical laboratories in Yorkshire and London, specialising in the field of analytical chemistry. He then moved to Pfizer in Kent, as an analytical research scientist within the pharmaceutical research and development group. During his nine years at Pfizer, Ed specialised in analytical method development and trace analysis for low-level impurities and contaminants in drug substances and products. A wide range of analytical techniques were used, with a particular focus on gas chromatography and liquid chromatography, both coupled with mass spectrometry detection. Some of this work was published in scientific literature and presented at conferences. Ed joined Hawkins in 2021 as a Senior Associate before being promoted to a Principal Associate. He has now conducted more than 850 forensic investigations. Those investigations have included fires, explosions, electrical incidents, contamination assessment, chemical reactions and escapes of water within domestic, industrial and marine environments. He regularly travels overseas to conduct investigations. Several of his high-profile cases have involved material losses of more than £10m, with some exceeding £100m. The marine vessel incidents have involved both engine room and cargo fires, including the TAC Imola, fires onboard large yachts and superyachts, and […]

Richard John Fletcher

Richard started his scientific career undertaking two six-month industrial placements during his third year of his Applied Chemistry degree at the University of Portsmouth. The first six months were spent working in the Chemistry Section of the Naval Aircraft Materials Laboratory (NAML) where he undertook a wide range of analytical work as well as being involved in investigating mid-air collisions of MOD aircraft. The second six months were spent working in the fuel additive section of Nalco Exxon Energy Chemicals, based at Fawley Oil refinery. He was responsible for testing and identifying the fuel additives for multi-national petroleum companies and the development of new additives. After completing his degree, Richard continued to study at the University of Portsmouth for his PhD, researching the effect of magnetic fields on the growth of sulphate reducing bacteria. After leaving University Richard worked for a Dorset based electronic and materials development company. He worked on projects to develop both corrosion monitoring equipment for helicopters, as well as crack detection systems for the rail industry. During his time at the company he worked within a team to investigate the cause of a major UK rail incident. In 2006 Richard joined Hawkins and quickly specialised himself […]

Christabel Evans

Christabel regularly investigates material failures, escapes of water and oil, system failures, and personal injury claims. She writes CPR compliant court reports and presents at industry awareness days.

Jonathan Emm

Jonathan’s engineering career began at Morganite Thermal Ceramics. Here he ran projects to develop a non-destructive testing technique for their foundry ceramic products, as well as a new product with very high thermal shock resistance. Jonathan joined BAE SYSTEMS in 2000 as an engineer in the Advanced Technology Centre, Stealth Materials Group. He ran development and application engineering projects there, mostly using elastomeric and composite materials as radar absorbent or transparent media. These were applied to military aircraft, ships and vehicles. This work enabled him to develop strong project management skills and in his last year he led a team of engineers and scientists in developing a sprayable, radar absorbent coating for aircrafts. In 2003 Jonathan joined Cytec Engineered Materials, where he ran qualification testing programmes for aerospace composite materials and provided technical advice and assistance to customers, particularly in relation to processing issues. His customers included Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, with whom he worked to incorporate advanced, recently developed materials into their aircraft structures. Jonathan joined Hawkins in January 2007, where he trained in the investigation of fires and explosions to add to his engineering expertise. Jonathan has now been involved with a broad range of forensic engineering […]

Graham Cooper

Graham obtained his first degree in Materials Technology from Coventry Polytechnic and his Masters degree in Advanced Materials Technology from the University of Surrey. He has been a Chartered Engineer since 1991 and is a Professional Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining. After graduation, he spent 10 years with British Aerospace where he was primarily involved with materials development, manufacturing support and aircraft defect investigation. He went on to work for British Airways in 1995 as their company metallurgist and defect investigation specialist before joining Burgoynes in 1998. Graham has investigated over 500 mechanical and materials related cases including aircraft accidents and incidents, marine accidents and losses, road traffic accidents, rail accidents, oil and gas production and pipeline incidents, industrial process plant incidents and power generation turbine failures. He has previously worked in Singapore and has undertaken investigations in the UK, Ireland, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Far East and Australia. He has acted as an Expert Witness and Single Joint Expert in litigation cases and has given expert evidence in civil and criminal court cases, arbitrations and mediations. Graham joined our Leeds office as a Principal Associate in August 2014, and is now based in our […]

John Camplin

John started his career in 1992 working as a research technician at the University of York, Chemistry Department where he provided technical support in analytical chemistry, polymer chemistry and surface analysis. In 1998 he was appointed research associate in the Physics Department investigating the optical effects of Giant Magneto Resistant (GMR) devices leading to the design and development of a Scanning Laser Microscope for GMR film mapping. In 2000 he moved to the University of California as a Research Assistant developing Scanning Tunneling Microscopes for the study of nanoscale surface structures. Two years later John moved back to the UK as a Principal Materials Scientist at BAE Systems InfraRed. There he took a key role in developing semi-conductor devices for InfraRed imaging, and computer models for semi-conductor optics. In 2005 John joined Hawkins. Having established himself in the field of fire investigation, he has also been involved in a broad range of forensic engineering investigations including road traffic accidents, mechanical vibration exposure, roller coasters and fairground equipment and semi-conductor engineering. John also has expertise in the areas of cryogenics, process engineering, vacuum engineering, optics and surface chemistry. John is a Principal Associate based in our Leeds Office.

Carl Butler

After his PhD, Carl became a post-doctoral research associate in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge. He studied the chemistry involved with the production of high purity silica and also completed research work for industrial clients using fluidised bed reactors. In 1997, Carl moved to the Process Safety Section of the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), an agency of the Health and Safety Executive. His work there, initially as a Higher Scientific Officer, involved the assessments of hazards associated with industrial chemical reaction processes, including runaway chemical reactions, BLEVEs and LPG vapour cloud fires, for which he was a partner in a European Joint Industry Project. Later, as Senior Scientific Officer, he led a research team investigating hazards associated with a wide range of processes, including high pressure water-jetting, fire-engulfment valves, LPG-storage and pool fires. Carl was also involved in large-scale testing to assess the hazards presented by the use of hydrogen as a fuel. His work at HSL also included the investigation of a number of incidents and he was an incident officer for the Process Safety Section. He also produced industry guidance on prevention of over-pressurisation of storage silos. Carl joined Hawkins in 2004 and […]

Stephen Brough

Stephen is a forensic engineer and fire investigator, based in our Leeds office.

Patrick Barbour

Having obtained a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, Patrick spent two years designing sub-sea wellhead equipment for the North Sea oil industry. He then returned to Leeds University to carry out research into the wear of polymers used in artificial hip joints. Having gained a PhD, he continued his research and lectured Mechanical Engineering at Leeds University. Patrick joined Dr J H Burgoyne and Partners LLP in 2000 to investigate incidents involving personal injury and mechanical failure for insurers and solicitors. During this time the findings of his investigations were used in numerous court cases, both civil and criminal, and he attended arbitrations and mediations to present expert evidence. In 2008 Patrick joined Hawkins in our Bristol office where he continues to use his expertise to investigate incidents of personal injury and mechanical failure. Patrick’s cases have involved the safety of systems of work and the failure of engineering components in commercial and domestic installations. These cases can require the analysis of stress and failure modes of a variety of materials, loads generated by static and moving bodies, thermodynamics and fluid flow as well as the safety of systems of work and the safety of interlocking systems intended to prevent […]

Robert Edwards

After completing a Post Doctoral Research Fellowship, Robert joined Liverpool John Moores University as a Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Environmental Chemistry. Here he developed a successful research programme in environmental chemistry and environmental analysis, publishing numerous papers in scientific journals and books and presenting research work at many national and international conferences. Robert has lectured extensively on analytical, environmental and corrosion chemistry. He was the course leader for the University’s MSc Analytical Chemistry course and was an assessor for the Higher Education Funding Council (Wales). Robert also gave annual lecture courses and workshops in Universities in Thailand, where he was a visiting lecturer. Since joining Hawkins in 2001, Robert has specialised in post-fire, post-flood and post-chemical spill contamination investigations throughout the world. This work involves determining the effects of contaminants on buildings, production equipment, complex computer systems and products, including food stuffs, and providing advice on the long term effects of the contaminants and best remediation techniques for recovery. During his time at Hawkins, Robert successfully completed the BOHS course for surveying buildings for asbestos and has since carried out asbestos contamination surveys following various incidents in the UK and Europe. Robert has also conducted many forensic fire […]