by Stuart Hogg, the former captain of the Scotland rugby team, was given a community payback order after admitting abusing his estranged wife over a five-year period. He pleaded guilty to a single charge of domestic violence against his ex-partner, Gillian Hogg, at Selkirk Sheriff Court on November 4.
The court heard he admitted shouting and swearing, tracking her movements and sending her alarming and distressing messages. Sheriff Peter Paterson sentenced Hogg to a community recovery order with a year’s supervision and a second five-year non-stay order when he appeared for sentencing on Thursday.
Hogg had previously been banned from approaching or contacting Ms Hogg for five years after he admitted breaching bail conditions by contacting her several times in June, during which she received 28 texts from him in one night. Sheriff Paterson made the first five-year non-harassment order and fined him £600, plus a further £40 victim surcharge, when he convicted him of the breach of conditional order. on bail at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on December 5.
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Hogg was also due to be sentenced last month on the domestic violence charge, but Sheriff Paterson deferred sentencing until Thursday to clarify whether a community order with remotely monitored supervision could be imposed, as Hogg now lives in l ‘stranger.
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The court previously heard the 32-year-old reprimanded Ms Hogg for “not being fun” after she continued to drink bounges with her colleagues, and once texted more than 200 times in a matter of hours. He was due to stand trial at the same court in November but pleaded guilty to domestic violence between 2019 and 2024 at various locations including Hawick in the Scottish Borders.
Now playing for French club Montpellier, Hogg currently resides abroad and is undergoing divorce proceedings, the court revealed. The prosecutor drew Long said the couple moved to Exeter in 2019 with their three young children, all under the age of three, but Hogg’s behavior worsened as he began partying more frequently.
Mr Long explained that Hogg would “yell and swear and accuse Ms Hogg of not being fun” for not participating in his drinking escapades, which led to noticeable changes in her. In 2022, Mrs Hogg experienced an onslaught of text messages from her husband on a night out, which raised her concerns, the court heard.
The following year the couple moved to Hawick in The Borders, where Hogg used an app to track his wife and question where she was dropping off the children, according to Mr Long. By 2023, Ms Hogg decided to leave the rugby player and sought advice from a domestic violence service.
The court was told that in September 2023, Hogg bombarded Ms Hogg with messages to the point where she suffered a panic attack, and Hogg “sent more than 200 texts in a matter of hours despite her request to leave her alone” .
On February 21 last year, the situation escalated when police responded to reports of Hogg “yelling and swearing”, leading to his arrest and subsequent bail conditions which banned him from contacting Mrs. Hogg or enter the family home.
Hogg, who retired from professional rugby in July 2023, made headlines last summer as he announced a return, signing a two-year deal with Montpellier. The former Glasgow Warriors and Exeter Chiefs star was honored with an MBE for his contributions to rugby in the previous New Year honors list.
