Irish woman Sharon Collins who ordered Las Vegas hitman to kill her partner released

Clare woman from ‘Lying Eyes’ case living at undisclosed location since release this week

A convicted Clare woman infamous for the “Lying Eyes” court case, is writing a book about her experience and in which she will protest her innocence. She hired a Las Vegas hitman to kill her partner and two sons.

Sharon Collins is currently living at an undisclosed location after being released from the Dóchas Centre at Mountjoy prison on Monday afternoon, four months before her sentence was served.

"Sharon is very well. She is enjoying being free and looking to get on with her life," her attorney said on Wednesday.

The Irish Examiner reports the 49-year-old was released from prison after serving almost four years of a six-year jail term after she was convicted for hiring Vegas hitman Essam Eid to kill her partner and his two adult sons between 1 August and 26 September 2006.

Collins allegedly used the handle “lying-eyes98” to investigate the hiring of a hitman on the internet. Her trial heard she attempted to hire Egyptian-born Las Vegas poker dealer Essam Eid to carry out the murders. She was convicted in 2008 of soliciting Eid to murder her partner, PJ Howard, and his two sons, Robert and Niall.

Her solicitor, Patrick Moylan said she would not be returning to live with her friends and family in Ennis.

"Sharon would much rather come and live with her family and friends in Ennis and integrate with them but she can’t because of the media attention it would bring to them."

He said that "there has already been a media presence at her mother’s home in Ennis this week. Sharon’s mother was distressed by the media attention from a number of weeks ago when she was frightened to walk up town and frightened to open her door and that level of concern rests with her".

He said: "Sharon won’t be coming back to Ennis in the near future. Sharon wants to try to develop her life and would like some sort of anonymity the same as any other citizen enjoys. If she returns to Ennis that is not going to happen and if her location is identified that is going to be more difficult."

Declining to say what part of the country Collins was in, when asked if it was a secret location, he said: "It certainly is."

Moylan confirmed that she was working on a book on the court case.

"The contents of the book are purely a matter for Sharon, but it is her account of the case," he said.

He said she maintains her innocence: "Sharon has always maintained her innocence and we have always maintained her innocence and therefore she doesn’t have regrets."

Moylan said that the Clare woman: “found prison difficult, but she engaged with the process and was a model prisoner".

Collins is restricted from talking directly to the media until December, when her prison term comes to an end.

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Nster.com