A 28-YEAR-OLD American woman has pleaded guilty to hiring hitman Essam Eid, the same assassin contacted by Clare woman Sharon Collins in 2006.

Collins was sentenced to six years in prison after plotting to kill her then-partner and his two sons.

She used an email alias lyingeyes98 to make contact with Eid through his website and paid the poker dealer a €15,000 deposit.

In a case bearing remarkable similarities, Marissa Mark pleaded guilty to hiring Eid and using stolen credit cards to pay for his services.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mark agreed to pay US$37,000 to have her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend gunned down.

Another local newspaper, The Morning Call, reports that Mark collected 41 photographs of the LA-based mortgage broker and saved copies of her MySpace page on her home computer.

She now faces up to 56 years in prison and is under home detention until her sentencing.

The target was not harmed but Eid contacted her, identifying himself as Tony Luciano. He claims she paid him US$20,000 to ensure her safety.

Court documents show that he told the victim that there were 700 men across the world in his hitman network.

Back  in 2006, Eid made similar contact with Collins’ target Robert Howard to get him to buy out the murder contract.

Eid was arrested in Ireland and found guilty of extortion. He was sentenced to six years in prison but was extradited to the US in May to face criminal charges in federal court in California.