45-year-old Sharon Collins of Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, Ennis and 52-year-old Essam Eid with an address in Las Vegas deny conspiring to murder her partner PJ Howard, an Ennis businessman and his two sons between August and September 2006.

The prosecution claimed Ms. Collins contacted Mr Eid at his address hitmanforhire@yahoo.com and hired him to kill all three for 90 thousand dollars.

The court has heard that Sharon Collins and her two sons moved into Mr. Howard's house in Ennis in 1998.

She had been keen to marry him but the court heard he did not want it because it would complicate inheritance matters and he wanted his estate to go to his two sons Robert and Niall, who are in their 20s.

Barrister Tom O Connell for the State outlining the background to the case said Ms. Collins worked in Mr. Howard's property business and was quite good on computers.

He said that through forensic analysis of computer hard drives the jury would hear that she was very much concerned with inheritance.

Mr. O Connell claimed she arranged a marriage to take place in Rome in 2005 but PJ Howard pulled out, they had pledged themselves to each other in Sorrento but it was not a legal marriage.

He told the court that following this she obtained a proxy marriage certificate over the internet under Mexican law and used it to get a passport under the name Sharon Howard.

He added that it was the state's case that she has done this so she would have some claim to Mr. Howard's estate after his death and the deaths of his two sons.