Ex-Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg avoids jail after campaign of domestic abuse
Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg has been given a five-year non-harassment order after he admitted abusing his estranged wife.
The 32-year-old previously pleaded guilty to a single charge of domestic abuse of his ex-partner, Gillian Hogg, when he appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court on November 4.
He admitted shouting and swearing, tracking her movements and sending her messages which were alarming and distressing in nature.
Hogg was today sentenced to a community payback order with one year of supervision and a second five-year non-harassment order when he appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court for sentencing on Thursday.
Sheriff Peter Paterson told Hogg the sentence is an ‘alternative to custody’.
Hogg, wearing a dark jacket and tie, made no comment as he left court accompanied by his parents.
Police escorted him to a vehicle which pulled up to collect him as he walked past waiting media.
There will be a review of the order at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on March 25.
The sheriff said: ‘I’ve no reason to doubt that Mr Hogg will comply with the order. It is an unusual order, it is a hybrid.’
Hogg has already been banned from approaching or contacting Mrs Hogg for five years after he admitted breaching bail conditions by repeatedly contacting her in June, bombarding her with 28 texts on one night alone.
Sheriff Paterson handed him the first non-harassment order when he sentenced him on that charge at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on December 5, and also fined him £600, with an additional £40 victim surcharge.
The court previously heard the rugby star berated Mrs Hogg for ‘not being fun’ after going on drinking binges with his colleagues, and once sent more than 200 text messages to her in the space of a few hours.
Prosecutor Drew Long said the couple moved to Exeter in 2019 with their three young children, all under three, but Hogg’s ‘behaviour deteriorated’ as he went out partying.
Mr Long said Hogg would ‘shout and swear and accuse Mrs Hogg of not being fun’ for not joining in drinking, and that her family ‘noticed a change in her’.
In 2022, Mrs Hogg went on a night out and was bombarded with text messages from her husband which ‘caught the attention of the people she was with’, the court heard.
The following year, the couple moved to Hawick in the Borders, but Hogg used an app to track his wife and ‘questioned her whereabouts’ while she was dropping the children off, Mr Long told the court.
In 2023, Mrs Hogg decided to leave the rugby player and sought advice from a domestic abuse service.
The court heard that in September 2023, Hogg sent so many messages that it led Mrs Hogg to have a panic attack, and Hogg ‘sent in excess of 200 texts in a few hours despite being asked to leave her alone’.
On February 21 last year, police were called due to Hogg ‘shouting and swearing’ and he was taken into custody and then placed on a bail order stipulating not to contact Mrs Hogg, or to enter the family home.
Hogg retired from professional rugby in July 2023 but last summer it was announced he was returning after signing for Montpellier on a two-year contract.
The former Glasgow Warriors and Exeter Chiefs player was made an MBE for services to the sport in last year’s New Year Honours list.
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