Complex sentence: Vicars argued for a public royal inquiry in lieu of the commission, and publicly accused his second in command, Francis Shackleton, of the theft, who was suspected of being blackmailed on account of his homosexuality, homosexual behaviour being a criminal offence at the time.
Split into simpler sentences: Vicars argued for a public royal inquiry in lieu of the commission, and publicly accused his second in command, Francis Shackleton, of the theft. It was was suspected that Shackleton had been blackmailed on account of his homosexuality, homosexual behaviour being a criminal offence at the time.