When Sharon Collins decided to hire Essam Eid to kill her partner PJ Howard and his sons Robert and Niall she ensured that anyone connected with the case would become a honey pot for the Irish media for months, if not years, afterwards.
Sharon herself can guarantee the column inches for merely catching a cold while the intensely private Howard family have complained that they can no longer conduct their property business in Ennis, Co Clare without being constantly aware of prying eyes and smutty jokes.
Well today Lying Eyes effect can be seen again. Sharon’s former husband, Noel, the father of her two sons and a familiar face to anyone who attended her trial, has appeared in Dublin Circuit Civil Court in an employment law scuffle.
It appears that Noel, when working as a security company manager, had allowed a security manager to sleep on the job and had got the sack as a result. The full story is here.
It’s the kind of story that runs through the courts all the time without comment. What makes it suddenly news is Mr Collins proximity to the notorious Devil in the Red Dress. I can’t help feel sorry for the man. All he did was stand by the mother of his children and give support to his sons, now he will be in the deflected spotlight for a very long time to come.
That’s the thing with high profile trials…the story keeps running long after the verdict has been announced. For all those connected with the Ennis femme fatale this means that their lives are now flagged on the paparazzi antenna. They might not have done anything but they too will pay some of the price. That’s just the way things are – but that’s unlikely to be of any comfort to Noel Collins as he suddenly steps into the limelight.
