This article is from page 13 of the 2008-11-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
GREED, deceit, callousness, dishon- esty, arrogance and manipulation were at the centre of Sharon Collins’ desires to have the Howards mur- dered.
The divorced mother-of-two had known PJ Howard to see since she was an innocent young girl grow- ing up in the town of Ennis. PJ was a wealthy businessman and she was an ambitious young girl.
Tragically, her ultimate ambitions ran too deep and inspired her to piece together a devious and cunning plan to have PJ murdered. Collins (45) enjoyed good times with PJ Howard – a lavish lifestyle, a loving partner and secure employment. But she was overcome by greed and she wanted everything – PJ’s millions. She had grown up in a modest background in Ennis and having tasted the high life, she wanted more.
She believed she was invincible and was of the view that the uncanny way in which she operated her plan would not backfire. Before going online and searching for an assassin, Collins had compiled a list of targets. PJ was target number one, but that was not the end of it. She believed that she
would not be able to get her hands on PJ’s wealth unless his sons Rob- ert (29) and Niall (25) were also out of the equation. A fourth target was also considered but this was not pro- ceeded with.
With her plan hatched, she coolly went online and sought to hire a hit- man. She came upon the ‘hitman- forhire’ website and went about her eevee
She set up the email address lyingeyes98@yahoo.ie for the pur- pose of hiring a hitman. The email address in itself has much relevance to her relationship with PJ Howard – they became an item in 1998; that was also the year his partner died; while the ‘lying eyes’ song by The Eagles was penned about a rich old man falling for a beautiful young woman before she cheated on him.
Collins was brazen and this was highlighted by the fact that some of the emails to ‘hitman’ were sent from a computer in the Downes and Howard office, where PJ had em- ployed her as a part-time secretary.
Over dozens of emails, Collins described in detail to ‘hitman’ the background as to why she wanted to wipe out the Howards. She wanted to inherit PJ’s money and she was intent
on doing this. The level of detail con- tained in the emails was remarkable. They indicated her deep desire to en- sure her plan was carried out.
In those emails, she coldly dis- cussed methods of killing the Howards – the possibility that Robert and Niall would die in an accident or be poisoned and PJ would be thrown from his 14th floor apartment in Spain in an apparent ‘suicide’ were mentioned.
Her intent was clear when she sent a down payment of €15,000 via FedEx in Shannon to the home of the man she was hiring.
‘Hitman’ was ordered to ensure the computers from the Downes and Howard office disappeared, so that incriminating evidence would not be available, if her actions were ever 1n- vestigated.
However, for all her devious plan- ning, Collins did not anticipate that ‘hitman’ would make the move to contact one of the targets, which ulti- mately led to her plan backfiring. Es- sam Eid (53) could not contact her on the evening of September 26, 2006, and instead decided to ring Robert Howard and attempt to buy out the contract. The web had become entan- gled and while gardai were not aware
of her involvement at this stage, as the story unravelled, Collins’ name aslo exer
She was arrested in February 2007 and questioned. She maintained her innocence and concocted a story about being set up due to her associa- tion with a mysterious American au- thor called Maria Marconi. In three detailed letters to the DPP – written in March, April and May 2007 – she pleaded that she not be charged, sug- gesting that if charges were brought it would have an adverse effect on her family and on PJ Howard.
But a huge volume of evidence had been collected. Gardai had got their hands on the computers at the cen- tre of the case and crucial email evi- dence had been uncovered. Collins was in the spotlight. Within weeks of her third letter to the DPP, she was charged. Yet, when the case came to trial, she maintained her innocent plea.
In the witness box, Collins denied profusely that she had been involved in a plot to kill the Howards and said that PJ had been very good to her. Put under pressure to name who may have set her up, she refused to do so. She was also reluctant to be drawn on allegations she had made about PJ
Howard, in a letter to the Gerry Ryan show on RTE 2FM in April 2006. In the letter, she had claimed that her partner had used prostitutes and transvestites and had encouraged her to take part in strange sex.
Asked three times were the contents in the letter true, she said, “Some of it was, but a lot of that letter wasn’t true and doesn’t give the full picture. I feel it shouldn’t have been used in here.”
But crucially she showed two con- trasting personalities in the witness box – the jury saw a cool, confident and smiling Collins during one of her two days’ evidence, followed by a tearful and sad Collins the follow- bITae rN
Her arrogance and self-assured at- titude on her first visit to the witness box were replaced by a pale-faced women in considerable difficulty the following day.
The jurors were not convinced by her and decided that she was guilty on all six charges she had faced. Ulti- mately, Sharon Collins must pay the price for her greed, dishonesty and or NOLO LEIS a ehsh