A mother of two jailed for soliciting a Las Vegas poker dealer to kill her partner and his two sons has had her conviction upheld.
Sharon Collins (47) was returned to Dóchas Prison after the Court of Criminal Appeal refused all 23 grounds of appeal.
She was jailed for six years in November 2008 for conspiracy to kill PJ Howard and his two sons Robert and Niall Howard.
She is due for release in March 2013, including remission for good behaviour.
Collins, of Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, Ennis, Co Clare, had also been found guilty of conspiring to kill the three men.
But the court previously ruled that conspiring to murder her wealthy partner and his two sons by hiring an online hitman could not be upheld because her co-accused - Egyptian-born Las Vegas poker dealer Essam Eid - was acquitted.
He has since been extradited to the United States.
Collins was fighting her conviction on three charges of soliciting Eid. She was found guilty of using the email alias 'Lying Eyes' to find Eid, a "hitman for hire", on the internet and setting up the killings for September 2006.
The tanned petite blond looked immaculate as she entered the courtroom in a smart grey speckled fitted jack and black trousers.
She appeared to miss the ruling, which the three-judge court delivered within seconds, and looked confused as she was tapped on the shoulder by a prison guard to return to the holding area.
In a 42-page ruling, the judges refused each ground of appeal, which focused on four main points when heard in March 2010.
They included the evidence of Teresa Engle, Eid's partner who was a convicted felon in the US, and the evidence of an alibi witness.
Her barrister also argued on the treatment of evidence relating to the poison ricin and the judge's charge to the jury on the soliciting charge.
Brendan Grehan, senior counsel for Collins, said the verdict for soliciting was tainted by the trial judge's failure to recharge the jury on the second charge and called for the conviction to be overturned.
But the appeal judges ruled: "This court does not accept that the charge was not clear. It was dealt with by the relevant law and relevant facts."
A jury at the Central Criminal Court heard in 2008 that Collins and Mr Howard held a ceremony in Italy where they declared their love for each other and on their return home, they held a function for friends.
She pretended they were married, obtained a fake marriage certificate through eBay and got a passport in the name of Sharon Howard.
Collins then created her internet alias and through Hitmanforhire.com contacted Tony Luciano - who was otherwise known as Essam Eid, the court heard.
The pair hatched an elaborate plan and the hitman flew to Ireland with his wife to wipe out Mr Howard and his two sons for $90,000, the jury was told.
But when Eid - who has serious heart and health problems – arrived in Ireland he tried to blackmail Robert Howard to call off the hit and the pair were caught, the court heard.
Investigators said the case centred on internet searches by Collins on information for inheritance and rights for co-habitants and a partly written e-mail Collins penned to a radio show, which was later recovered on a computer stolen from Mr Howard's workplace and dumped.
He was later cleared of conspiracy to murder, but jailed for six years for extortion and handling stolen property
On July 9th, 2008, Collins - who had denied she was Lying Eyes and planned the plot - was convicted.
At her sentencing hearing four months later Mr Howard appealed for the judge to spare his former partner from jail.
"I will not give up on Sharon," he said, pleading for a suspended sentence. "Sharon is in my opinion one of the nicest people you could ever have been fortunate to know. A caring, loving and decent lady."
PA