a few days later, near dunmanway, an auxiliary called vernon hart killed a young man and a seventy-year-old priest, whom the auxiliary patrol met on the road. a third civilian, a local magistrate, escaped by approaching the other auxiliaries before fleeing across nearby fields. hart was arrested and court-martialled. at his trial, it was revealed that he had been a "particular friend" of tc chapman, and had been drinking heavily since 11 december. concerned that parallels would be made between this case and the killing of francis sheehy-skeffington, the british cabinet directed that hart should be examined by at least two medical experts, a highly unusual intervention. these medical witnesses testified that hart was insane at the time of the murders and the court-martial concluded that he "was guilty of the offenses with which he was charged, but was insane at the time of their commission". although hamar greenwood announced to the house of commons that he would be detained at his majesty's pleasure, hart was briefly held at broadmoor criminal lunatic asylum before release the following year.