Stuart Hogg pleads guilty to domestic abuse of estranged wife over five years | Rugby union

The previous Scotland rugby worldwide Stuart Hogg has admitted abusing his estranged spouse over the course of 5 years.

Hogg, 32, had been as a consequence of stand trial at Selkirk Sheriff Courtroom on Monday however pleaded responsible to a single cost when he appeared on the courtroom.

The daddy-of-four arrived at courtroom accompanied by his dad and mom, Margaret and John, and admitted a single cost of home abuse, between 2019 and 2024 at places together with Hawick, Scottish Borders, and Bearsden, Glasgow. The ex-Scotland captain, who performs for the French membership Montpellier, now lives overseas and is within the strategy of divorce proceedings, the courtroom heard.

Hogg stood within the dock carrying a bandage on his hand and a Remembrance Day poppy, as he admitted a single cost which stated he “did have interaction in a course of behaviour which was abusive of your ex-partner, Gillian Hogg” and that he “did shout and swear in an aggressive method, observe her actions [and] ship her messages which had been alarming and distressing in nature”.

The courtroom heard Hogg berated his spouse for “not being enjoyable” after occurring consuming binges together with his colleagues, and despatched “in extra of 200 textual content messages in a couple of hours regardless of having been requested to go away her alone” and that Mrs Hogg had a panic assault as a result of messages. Prosecutor Drew Lengthy stated the couple argued about the place they might stay, and that Hogg criticised his spouse for “not being enjoyable” in a family with three youngsters underneath the age of three years outdated.

Mr Lengthy instructed the courtroom: “Stuart Hogg and Gillian Hogg are a married couple within the strategy of a divorce. They’ve 4 youngsters. Over the course of their marriage they lived in Hawick, Scottish Borders, Glasgow and Exeter, earlier than shifting again to the Borders the place they cut up in 2023. They had been dwelling in Glasgow the place they moved to additional Hogg’s profession. They’d fall into dispute about the place the household ought to stay.”

He stated that Mrs Hogg was “scared” of her husband when he turned offended and would “want it was morning so he would sober up”. Mr Lengthy stated that the couple moved to Exeter in 2019 with their three younger youngsters, all aged underneath three years outdated, however Hogg’s “behaviour deteriorated” as he went out partying with colleagues.

The prosecutor instructed the courtroom Hogg would “shout and swear and accuse her of not being enjoyable” for not becoming a member of in consuming, and that Mrs Hogg’s household “observed a change in her”. In 2022, Mrs Hogg went on an evening out and was bombarded with textual content messages from her husband which “caught the eye of the folks she was with”, the courtroom heard.

The next 12 months, the couple moved to Hawick however Hogg used an app to trace his spouse and “questioned her whereabouts” whereas she was dropping the youngsters off, Mr Lengthy instructed the courtroom.

In 2023, Mrs Hogg determined to go away the rugby participant and sought recommendation from a home abuse service, the courtroom heard. The prosecutor stated, in September 2023, Hogg despatched so many messages that it “led [Mrs Hogg] to have a panic assault”, and that Hogg “despatched in extra of 200 texts in a couple of hours regardless of being requested to go away her alone”.

In February 2024, Hogg entered the household house regardless of being instructed to not and have become “belligerent”, and Mrs Hogg sought authorized recommendation, the courtroom heard. On 21 February, police had been known as as a consequence of Hogg “shouting and swearing” and he was taken into custody after which positioned on a bail order stipulating to not contact her, or to enter the household house. The courtroom heard that in August 2024, Hogg was on a video name to his youngsters and requested that they go the machine to Mrs Hogg, regardless of directions to not contact her.

Defending Hogg, Angela Grey KC stated: “The incidents in isolation would have been unlikely to achieve the brink required for a prosecution within the felony courts. Mr Hogg accepts these incidents have in isolation fallen brief of what’s anticipated of a husband. It’s accepted by Mr Hogg that his conduct, checked out inside that framework [of Domestic Abuse Act 2018], was felony in nature.”

She stated that the “deteriorating” relationship had been topic to extra “scrutiny positioned on it”, and that Hogg’s place was that his behaviour was “by no means meant to be abusive”, the courtroom heard.

Sentence was deferred till 5 December at Jedburgh Sheriff Courtroom. Sheriff Peter Paterson stated: “You stay topic to bail situations beforehand agreed.”