TALES of prostitutes, transvestites, escorts, swingers' clubs and "strange sex" demands.

This is what Clare businessman PJ Howard was forced to endure when his partner Sharon Collins delivered some rather explosive allegations about their private life.

The saga began in April 2006, when convicted conspirator Sharon Collins sat down at her computer and composed an e-mail to the Gerry Ryan Show on RTE.

The letter, she said, was anonymous, and would not have revealed her partner's identity had it been aired on the radio.

Instead, the sordid details found their way into evidence in the extraordinary trial and therefore into the national spotlight.

Objected

A furious Sharon Collins strongly objected to airing the letter, angrily telling prosecution counsel Una Ni Raifeartaigh that the full picture was not revealed in the portion of the correspondence that had been recovered.

That portion, however, was enough to reveal a series of deeply personal allegations about PJ Howard's private life. And with his former partner behind bars, he has now been left to try to repair the damage to his privacy caused by Sharon Collins's many claims.

She said her partner owned a holiday apartment in another country, insisting that "the main attraction for him there is the sex industry". She also alleged that he had used prostitutes and transvestites regularly there.

She also claimed to have been constantly pestered for "strange sex".

She said he took her to swingers' clubs, even though she refused to take part. However, she wrote that she had "witnessed things that I sincerely wish I never had to see".

Escorts

In extraordinary allegations, she said PJ Howard, who runs a successful property company, had urged her to become a prostitute and to pick up men and escorts for sex.

She said that when she refused to follow his requests, he called her "boring" and "a stick-in-the-mud".

The situation was at odds with the public perception of them, she explained, as anyone who saw them as a couple would find it hard to believe "he is like that" as a person.

Not only that, but she provided explicit detail in her descriptions of their alleged life behind the bedroom door.

She claimed: "Every single time we have sex I have to describe in detail what I would do if I were with another man. This, it seems, is necessary for him to keep his erection."

Questioned about the allegations in court, an angry Sharon Collins would only say that some of the issues had been "discussed".

Following the discussion, she argued, they ceased to be relevant issues during their relationship.

- Aoife Finneran