SITTING between her two sons, talking to her ex-husband Noel, Sharon Collins could have been revisiting a memory of an earlier, happier time.

Instead, she was living her worst nightmare, having just been convicted of soliciting a hitman and conspiring to kill her partner PJ Howard and his sons Robert and Niall.

Rigid with shock at the verdict, her 21-year-old son David drew his hands to his face and took a deep breath as the first tears escaped.

At Sharon's other shoulder, her ashen-faced older son Gary grasped his mother's hand and bowed his head.

Stared

However, looking small and frail between the two young men, Sharon Collins did not flinch. Instead, she stared across the courtroom at the jury of eight men and four women, displaying a pale, tired face.

It was shortly before 2.30pm when the first guilty verdict was read out. Yet the convicted woman displayed no heightened emotion at the news that she would shortly be heading for the prison cell.

In fact, the drama of the occasion was more visible in the face of one female juror, who struggled to contain her tears. It was certainly understandable, considering they had been deliberating for more than 10 hours, not including three hours on Monday evening before they were re-charged.

Minutes later, Sharon Collins' fate was sealed as she was convicted on the conspiracy charges, yet the stoic exterior remained.

It wasn't until the jury had left the court that her composed image finally slipped.

Turning to her son, her shoulders shook as she sobbed into his arms.

A tender kiss to his neck, a firm grasp of the hand as she prepared to say her goodbyes.

Clutching a tissue, she stood to consult with her legal team, as her distressed son David fled the courtroom.

Formalities completed, she was then left for some time to sit with her family as the court awaited the verdict on Egyptian poker dealer Essam Eid.

At one point, her ex-husband Noel arrived over, placing a comforting hand on his son's arms as the once happy family discussed the situation.

It was a poignant image, one which no doubt evoked thoughts of a happier time. Mother, father and two children, looking just like any other family.

The stark reality, however, could not be more different. With their marriage having ended several years ago, Noel Collins has remarried, and his wife Fiona was with him in court to offer her support.

For Sharon Collins, however, it was to be the last precious minutes she would spend in private with her sons for some time.

Having been refused bail, she appeared visibly distressed as she began preparing for her short trip to Mountjoy Women's Prison.

Grasping Gary's hand, she sat and spoke quietly with the boys for several minutes, uninterrupted by legal teams or prison officers.

Only the persistent glare of members of the media and the curious public robbed them of their last moments of privacy.

Obviously aware of this, Fiona Collins moved quickly in front of her husband's former wife, shielding her from prying eyes.

At 5.30pm yesterday, the jury was discharged after explaining that they had been unable to reach a verdict on the remaining charges relating to Essam Eid.

Sharon Collins was then escorted from the courtroom, a dignified exit with no handcuffs in sight.

From there, it was straight into a white prison service van where she was brought to spend her first night behind bars as a convicted woman.

There was no sign of the intended targets, PJ Howard, or his sons Robert and Niall. Instead, the trio issued a statement saying they were relieved at the conclusion and expressed their gratitude towards the jury.

The spotlight then turned to Sharon Collins' two sons, who bravely faced the glare of the public eye alongside their solicitor Eugene O'Kelly.

Mr O'Kelly described the pair as two fine young men who had shown "loyalty, devotion and love for their mother" throughout the course of the trial.

Their lives, he said, had now been "shattered".

- Aoife Finneran