Stuart Hogg, the former captain of Scotland’s rugby union team, has been handed a community payback order after admitting to abusing his estranged wife over a five-year period. He pleaded guilty to a single charge of domestic abuse against his ex-partner, Gillian Hogg, at Selkirk Sheriff Court on November 4.
The court heard that he admitted to shouting and swearing, tracking her movements, and sending her alarming and distressing messages. Sheriff Peter Paterson sentenced Hogg to a community payback order with one year of supervision and a second five-year non-harassment order when he appeared for sentencing on Thursday.
Hogg had previously been banned from approaching or contacting Mrs Hogg for five years after admitting to breaching bail conditions by repeatedly contacting her in June, during which she received 28 texts from him in one night. Sheriff Paterson issued the first five-year non-harassment order and fined him £600, plus an additional £40 victim surcharge, when he sentenced him for the bail condition breach at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on December 5.
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Hogg was also due to be sentenced last month on the domestic abuse charge, but Sheriff Paterson deferred the sentence until Thursday to clarify whether a community order with remotely monitored supervision could be imposed, as Hogg now lives abroad.
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The court previously heard that the 32-year-old had berated Mrs Hogg for “not being fun” after he went on drinking binges with his colleagues, and once sent over 200 text messages to her within a few hours. He was due to stand trial at the same court in November but pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic abuse 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, as revealed in court. Prosecutor Drew Long stated that the couple relocated to Exeter in 2019 with their three young children, all under three, but Hogg’s behaviour worsened as he began partying more frequently.
Mr Long explained that Hogg would “shout and swear and accuse Mrs Hogg of not being fun” for not participating in his drinking escapades, leading to noticeable changes in her. In 2022, Mrs Hogg experienced an onslaught of text messages from her husband during a night out, which raised concerns, the court was told.
The following year, the couple moved to Hawick in the Borders, where Hogg used an app to track his wife and question her whereabouts while she was dropping off the children, according to Mr Long. By 2023, Mrs Hogg decided to leave the rugby player and sought advice from a domestic abuse service.
The court was told that in September 2023, Hogg bombarded Mrs Hogg with messages to the point where she suffered 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, the situation escalated when police responded to reports of Hogg “shouting and swearing”, leading to his arrest and subsequent bail conditions which prohibited him from contacting Mrs Hogg or entering the family home.
Hogg, who retired from professional rugby in July 2023, made headlines last summer as he announced a comeback, signing a two-year deal with Montpellier. The former Glasgow Warriors and Exeter Chiefs star was honoured with an MBE for his contributions to rugby in the previous New Year Honours list.
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