Thomas Banks, instructed by Grant Evatt of Alma Law, acted on behalf of the family of Adrian Underwood, who was killed aboard the oil tanker MV Mercer Street on 29th July 2021. Area Coroner Jason Pegg found that Mr Underwood was unlawfully killed when the ship was struck by an Iranian-manufactured drone as it was transiting from Dar Es Salaam towards the Straits of Hormuz.
The inquest considered written and oral evidence from nine witnesses over three days at Winchester Coroners Court in November 2025.
The Coroner heard that Mr Underwood, who formerly served with the Royal Artillery in Afghanistan, was deployed on the oil products tanker MV Mercer Street as leader of the team of maritime security guards. On 29th July 2021, the ship was sailing in international waters off the coast of Oman when it was targeted by three weaponised drones.
The first attack missed the aft of the ship. The second struck the water next to the vessel and exploded, causing debris from the drone to land on the deck. In response the vessel’s Master, who subsequently died in the third attack, reported the incidents to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (a regional information exchange operated by the Royal Navy) and Zodiac Maritime Ltd (Mercer Street’s London-based operator.). He increased the vessel’s speed and temporarily directed the crew to shelter in the vessel’s hardened ‘citadel’. They returned to their stations roughly two hours later.
The third strike occurred seven hours later. A Shahed-136 weaponised drone, which the Coroner understood to have been of Iranian manufacture but used by a number of hostile actors, hit the roof of the pilot cabin where Mr Underwood had positioned himself in the event of further attack. The drone penetrated the cabin roof and exploded, causing Mr Underwood to suffer immediate, fatal injuries.
The Coroner expressed concern about the known risks of possible hostile action against merchant shipping following reported incidents on other vessels earlier in 2021. But ultimately he held that there was no known threat to merchant shipping from weaponised drones at the time of the attacks, and the Mercer Street could not reasonably have been expected to have any means to defend against such a military capability. He found that the vessel was probably deliberately targeted but noted that, despite investigations from intelligence and counter-terrorist agencies, no-one has been able to identify precisely who had launched the drones or why.
The Coroner returned a conclusion of unlawful killing.
