RTE 1 Scannal Programme 23/01/12 - Sharon Collins "Lying Eyes".

Lady Chatterton

RTE's "Scannal" is a series which examines some of the scandals that shocked and outraged the nation in recent years. On Monday evening at 7:30pm they will be looking at the case of Ennis woman, Sharon Collins or "Lying Eyes" as she became know to the public. She was found guilty in 2008 of soliciting a hitman to kill her partner, Ennis businessman, PJ Howard.and his two sons.

If you read about this case in a crime novel you would say it was far fetched, sometimes things that happen in real life really are stranger than fiction :eek:

In the summer of 2008 a jury at a high profile and bizarre trial held at the Central Criminal Court painstakingly listened for over seven weeks to evidence that read like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster: A younger woman plotting to kill her wealthly partner and his two sons, a Las Vegas poker dealer turned hitman, FBI investigations, digital trails of evidence and the most deadly poison known to man. This SCANNAL tells the sensational story of Sharon Collins, a petite blonde 44 year old woman from Co. Clare accused of hiring a hitman on the internet to kill her wealthy partner PJ Howard and his two sons. Using the email psydonym lyingeyes, Collins made contact with Tony Luciano -- aka Essam Eid on Hitmanforhire.com which purported to kill for a fee. Little did Sharon Collins know, that Eid was actually an Egyptian born Las Vegas poker dealer who had set up the website more with money rather than murder on his mind.

Having received a €15,000 deposit from Colllins, Eid flew to Ireland with his wife Theresa Engle in September 2006 carrying the deadly poison Ricin to kill Co. Clare businessman PJ Howard and his two sons Robert and Niall. But the plot backfired when the would-be assassin tried to blackmail Robert Howard - looking for €100,000 to call off the contract murders and he was caught red handed by the Gardaí. His arrest unraveled a secret web of lies and deceit and scuppered the plan by a scheming Sharon Collins to claim her partner's inheritance.
The investigation which followed including FBI searches of Eid's Las Vegas home and computer led Gardaí on a trail of computer and digital evidence to Sharon Collins. The trial, which revealed a trail of 44 pages of emails and numerous phone calls between the two accused, captured the public imagination. Eid and Collins had agreed PJ's sons would be poisoned in their local pub while their heartbroken father would be killed shortly after hearing of their deaths. A push off the roof of the apartment he owned in the Costa Del Sol would be made to look like suicide. Emails Collins had sent to the Gerry Ryan radio show were also recovered which claimed that her partner had plagued her with unusual sexual demands.

Sharon Collins' composed and smart appearance entering the Central Criminal Court in Dublin during the trial made the headlines each evening. She constantly denied that she was behind the Lying Eyes email account. In the face of betrayal and public humilation bizzarely P.J Howard, stood resolutely by his former lover throughout the trial and said he would never give up on her. Collins was convicted of soliciting a hitman (her conviction for conspiring to murder was overturned on appeal) still serving her sentence, she is due for release later this year. Stories abound of lucrative book and TV deals on her release and even the possibility of Lying Eyes being immortalised in a Hollywood film.

Closing the case prosecution counsel Una Ní Raifeartaigh told the jury that from a distance this may look like a cheap thriller that Collins herself may have written, but the case is a tragedy for everyone involved.

Producer/Director: Laura Ní Cheallaigh
Presenter/Reporter: Pádraig O'Driscoll

'I think Sharon Collins was quite naive in her use of computers, her google searches went out of control and before she could hold back she had suddenly made contact with hitman and there was no turning back at that point.'
Emer Connolly, author 'Lying Eyes'

'Sharon Collins has always been extremely adament that she is innocent of these charges. She, from the very beginnning, said she had no involvment good, bad or indifferent, in conspiring with anyone to murder PJ Howard or his sons or to solicit anyone to do so. That is her position now and it was during the trial.'
Eugene Kelly, Solicitor for Sharon Collins

'PJ's courtroom kiss shellshocked the court, there was not doubt about that. It was one of the major talking points of the trial. He had so much to say in her defence during his evidence, but it was the action, the kiss that shocked given the strong evidence against her that he was still willing to support her.'
Emer Connolly, author 'Lying Eyes'

'There's considerable interest in Sharon Collins story, we have been approached by Producers from America and various television channels from the UK and Ireland, there's been talk of book deals. It seems to be a story that has caught the public imagination.'
Eugene Kelly, Solicitor for Sharon Collins