Her smile was a thin disguise
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IF Hollywood was looking for a perfect figure to play a devious, murder-planning housewife, Sharon Collins certainly wouldn't have been the face that first sprung to mind.
Petite, blonde, stylish but conservative, the 45-year-old exuded innocence from her wide eyes.
Nobody who knew her would ever have guessed that underneath her polished and understated exterior lurked a brutal, criminal mind.
In fact, her demure, mumsy image would not suggest that this was a woman capable of surfing the net and hiring a hitman.
Her bubbly demeanour didn't impress prosecution counsel Una Ni Raifeartaigh, who accused her of attempting to manipulate the jury into believing that someone with such a smile could not be capable of committing such a crime.
And while there was no red dress on display in Court Number 2 over the last seven weeks, the jury didn't need it to decide that Sharon Collins was indeed the lying eyes conspirator.
- Aoife Finneran
