husband had her bail reduced to $5,000 from $200,000 yesterday at a hearing in Boston, but she is still in custody.

Loretta Burrows Marsh, 49, was originally arraigned in a West Roxbury District Court earlier this month on charges that she hired a hit man to attack her husband, Philip Marsh, 55, an arson squad investigator based in Boston's Hyde Park Section.

She has also been charged with attempted robbery. Her case was switched to a Suffolk County Superior Court on August 16 and she had a bail hearing yesterday.

The bail hearing followed pre-trial proceedings between the judge and lawyers for the accused and prosecution.

Mrs. Burrows Marsh is being held in the Nashua Street detention centre because she can't raise the $5,000 bail.

She was represented by lawyer Nancy Hurley. Mrs. Burrows Marsh was employed as a hairdresser in Boston. She was not present at yesterday's proceeding.

The news of her arrest and subsequent arraignment earlier this month was front page news in the Boston Herald newspaper.

In the article, neighbours were reportedly stunned to learn Mrs. Burrows Marsh allegedly plotted to have a man enter their home through a door she would have left open.

Once inside the second-floor Randolph apartment, the man was to tie her up and take some jewellery.

She is said to have placed special emphasis on the theft of her wedding ring but it is not known whether it was insured.

If her husband resisted she is alleged to have told the hit man to break both his legs. If he was killed, however, that was an outcome she allegedly would have been happy with.

She is also alleged to have told the hit man that her husband had a life insurance policy worth $75,000 and she would share some of it with him.

But the man she approached in Hyde Park on July 30 went to Boston Police and they arranged for a second meeting between the two.

The second encounter was captured on videotape. At it Mrs. Burrows Marsh insisted the job be carried out by August 2.

A third meeting took place on the night of August 2 with an undercover Police officer posing as the would-be attacker.

District Attorney Gerry D'Ambrosio alleged it was during this meeting Mrs.

Burrows Marsh said it was not the first time she tried to kill her husband.

However, on an earlier occasion the plan fell through.

Neighbours described the couple as outwardly loving. They were said to be always laughing and singing to the radio.

Residents who lived on the same housing complex said they never heard any evidence of marital problems.

BERMUDIAN BDA