Former Scotland rugby captain pleads guilty to domestic abuse over five-year period against former partner

By Christian Oliver

Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg has pleaded guilty to one charge of domestic abuse over a five-year period against his former partner.

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Hogg, 32, appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court on Monday where he admitted to sending “in excess of 200 text messages in a few hours despite having been asked to leave her alone” following the breakup of their marriage.

The former Scotland captain then tracked his former partner's location which, along with the messages, contributed to Mrs Hogg having a panic attack, the court heard.

The father-of-four, who was accompanied to court by his parents, admitted to the single charge between 2019 and 2024, which said he “did engage in a course of behaviour which was abusive of your ex-partner, Gillian Hogg”, and that he “did shout and swear in an aggressive manner, track her movements (and) send her messages which were alarming and distressing in nature”.

The court heard Hogg berated his wife for “not being fun” after going on drinking binges with his colleagues.

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The ex-Scotland captain now plays for French club Montpellier and last year unexpectedly announced his immediate retirement from international rugby. In a statement at the time, he said he wanted to take up a new career after retirement.

After the court heard the former couple were in the process of divorce proceedings, Prosecutor Drew Long said the pair about where they would live, and that Hogg berated his wife for “not being fun” in a household with three children under the age of three years old.

He said that Mrs Hogg was “scared” of her husband when he became angry and would “wish it was morning so he would sober up”.

Mr Long said that the couple moved to Exeter in 2019 with their three young children, all aged under three years old, when Hogg’s “behaviour deteriorated” when he went out partying with colleagues.

The prosecutor told the court Hogg would “shout and swear and accuse her of not being fun” for not joining in drinking, and that Mrs Hogg’s 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 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.

The prosecutor said, in September 2023, Hogg sent so many messages that it “led (Mrs Hogg) to have a panic attack”, and that Hogg “sent in excess of 200 texts in a few hours despite being asked to leave her alone”.

In February 2024, Hogg entered the family home despite being told not to and became “belligerent”, and Mrs Hogg sought legal advice, the court heard.

The same month police were called due to Hogg “shouting and swearing”. He was taken into custody and then placed on a bail order stipulating not to contact her, or to enter the family home.

The court heard that in August 2024, Hogg was on a video call to his children and requested that they pass the device to Mrs Hogg, despite instructions not to contact her.

Defending Hogg, Angela Gray KC said: “The incidents in isolation would have been unlikely to reach the threshold required for a prosecution in the criminal courts. Mr Hogg accepts these incidents have in isolation fallen short of what is expected of a husband.

“It is accepted by Mr Hogg that his conduct, looked at within that framework (of Domestic Abuse Act 2018), was criminal in nature.”

She said that the “deteriorating” relationship had been subject to additional “scrutiny placed on it”, and that Hogg’s position was that his behaviour was “never intended to be abusive”, the court heard.

Higg will be sentenced on December 5 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court. He remains subject to previously agreed bail conditions until then.