in the British army and Bowen-Colthurst was not firing his rifle wildly in the air on the way to Kelly's shop. At the end of the trial, despite the weakness of the evidence for his insanity, Bowen-Colthurst was found 'Guilty but insane' and sentenced to indefinite incarceration in Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane. The Royal Commission The perverse verdict of the court martial, avoiding a sentence of death or imprisonment, became a cause célèbre internationally and, along with the civilian deaths in North King Street, provoked a political furore which culminated in the appointment of several Royal Commissions of Inquiry. The Royal Commission on the arrest and 'treatment' of Sheehy Skeffington, Dickson and McIntyre was chaired by Sir John Simon (a former Attorney General and Home Secretary), and held hearings on 23–31 August 1916 in a public courtroom at the Four Courts in Dublin. Thirty-eight witnesses were examined, including Sheehy Skeffington's wife Hanna. The report of this Commission constitutes the principal source of facts about the events leading to the death of Sheehy Skeffington. However, much of the evidence presented at the oral hearings does not appear in the final report, but fortunately, it was published in the Dublin newspapers. The Royal Commission examined the circumstances of Dickson's, McIntyre's and Sheehy Skeffington's deaths but not why they were killed. The Commission chairman's view was that as a court martial had already determined that Bowen-Colthurst was insane, there could be no further discussion of his mental state and motives. However, the Commission report did present a plausible narrative of Bowen-Colthurst's actions. The evidence presented to the Commission was much the same as the testimony at the court martial. But there were a number of disturbing revelations during the Commission hearings, particularly those concerning the shooting of James Coade and Bowen-Colthurst's raid on Kelly's. First of all there was the actual murder of Coade. Timothy Healy, counsel for the Sheehy Skeffington family, established that Sheehy Skeffington had witnessed Coade's killing. Mr J. P. Brennan, solicitor for Patrick McIntyre, established that Sheehy Skeffington had had the opportunity to talk to Dickson and McIntyre while they were being escorted back to Portobello Barracks. However, the Commission reported that it was unable to arrive at any conclusions about a possible link between Coade's and Sheehy Skeffington's shootings. The crucial court martial testimony of Lieutenant Leslie Wilson, who had accompanied Bowen-Colthurst on the raid on