A jury in the Central Criminal Court has heard that the lethal toxin Ricin was found in the prison cell of a former Las Vegas poker dealer accused of conspiring with a Clare woman to kill her partner and his two sons.
Detective Garda Gerald Fahy told Ms Una Ní Raifeartaigh that he had received intelligence which led him to suspect that the toxin was hidden somewhere in Mr Essam Eid's cell in Limerick Prison where he had been held since his arrest following the burglary of the Howard family business in September 2006.
Det Garda Fahy told the court that on his arrival at the prison he had spoken to Mr Eid who had been taken to a different room while his cell was being searched. "He told me he had contact lenses but he had lost them about two months after his arrival at Limerick Prison," Det Garda Fahy said.
Det Garda Fahy said Mr Eid told him he still had the lens case, which was stored in a box under his bed. He told Mr Paul O'Higgins SC, defence counsel for Mr Eid, that while no contact lens case had been found on Mr Eid at the time of his arrest, his personal effects had been returned to him in prison and had included a medicine bag which had not been searched.
Commandant Peter Daly of the army Explosives Ordinance Disposal division told prosecuting counsel Mr Tom O'Connell SC that he had been in charge of the search of the cell.
He said he had been a UN weapons inspector in Iraq in 1998 and was familiar with the toxin Ricin. He said he had supervised the search party and ensured that they had all been correctly dressed in bio hazard suits with surgical gloves and breathing apparatus if necessary.
He said he had found the contact lens case in a box under Mr Eid¿s box and also took a small plastic bottle of a clear liquid and several pages for testing.
The court heard from several analytical chemists from LGC Limited in Teddington, Middlesex in the UK. Mr Stephen Kippen, the manager of the facility, said there was a "sheen" on the inside of one of the cups on the case indicating that something had dried onto it. He had irrigated the lens case using a sterile saline solution to dislodge any material there.
He then made two separate samples from the solution used to wash out the cup and lid of either side of the case which, together with a control sample of the buffer solution, where sent to a sister laboratory for testing.
Mr Kippen told Mr O'Higgins the remainder of the sample left over for testing had been reserved and was being stored at LGC. He said that it was not known how stable Ricin was and as such it was not known if the samples were still viable.
Ms Sharon Collins (45), with an address at Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road Ennis and Mr Eid (52), an Egyptian man with a Las Vegas address have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kill PJ, Robert and Niall Howard between August 1st 2006 and 26 September 2006. Ms Collins also denies hiring Mr Eid to shoot the three men.
Mr Eid denies demanding €100,000 from Mr Robert Howard to cancel the contracts. He also denies breaking into the Howard family business at Westgate Business Park and stealing two computers, some computer cables, a digital clock and a poster of old Irish money and then handling the stolen items.
The trial will continue on Monday before Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and the jury of eight men and four women.