Collins to appeal murder conspiracy conviction
Clare woman Sharon Collins will today appeal her conviction for conspiring to murder her wealthy lover and his two sons.
The 46-year-old from Kildysart in Ennis is serving six years for the plot against businessmen PJ, Robert and Niall Howard in September 2006.
Her trial heard she used the internet to hire a hitman to kill off the Howard family to get at PJ's €60m fortune which his sons were due to inherit.
Under the alias 'lyingeyes' she made contact with a website 'hitmanforhire' run by former Las Vegas poker dealer Essam Eid.
He was cleared on the conspiracy charges and was instead convicted of extortion after he tried to double cross Sharon Collins by getting Robert Howard to buy out the hit for €100,000.
He is also serving six years and will today join his co-accused in trying to overturn his conviction.
The court of criminal appeal hearing is scheduled to last two days.
