After taking part in an ambush on a Free-State raiding party at Meenoghane, the column was trapped at the Clashmealcon caves by the National Army's 1st Western Division.
Stenning gained particular attention because a weekly report written on 17 April stated he had a note of safe passage on him signed by the OC of Kerry at the time, Paddy Daly, and that he had been a deserter not just from the British but from the National Army before joining the anti-Treaty IRA.
Stenning was executed at Ballymullen Barracks, Tralee, on 25 April 1923, along with McEnery and Greaney; the entry of death, dated 5 May 1923, gives the cause as "shock and haemorrhage following gunshot wounds".
Stenning's father wrote that his son had gone to Ireland with "the Lancashire Regiment" and had then fought against the "infamous Black and Tans" before fighting with the IRA in the Civil War under Thomas Driscoll and Aero Lyons.
His service in the IRA was acknowledged by the pensions board, at least between September 1922 and his execution date, but a gratuity was not granted as it was determined his parents were not dependent on him; his father hadn't seen him since 1920 and officials related that Irish people knew far more about his final years.
Stenning is listed amongst "the seventy-seven" [with the name 'Hathaway'], a term made popular by Republican propagandist Dorothy Macardle to celebrate anti-treaty fighters executed by the National Army.