Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg to be sentenced after admitting domestic abuse

Former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg will be sentenced on Thursday after admitting abusing his estranged wife for five years.

Hogg, 32, was due to stand trial but pleaded guilty to a single charge when he appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court last month.

The father-of-four admitted a single charge of domestic violence, between 2019 and 2024, including in Hawick, the Scottish Borders and Bearsden, near Glasgow.

Hogg, who plays for French club Montpellier, now lives abroad and is going through a divorce, the court heard.

He stood in the dock, wearing a bandage on his hand and a Remembrance Day poppy, as he admitted a single charge that he “engaged in abusive behavior towards your ex-partner, Gillian Hogg” and that he “screamed and swore aggressively, followed her movements (and) sent her messages of an alarming and distressing nature.”

The court heard Hogg berated his wife for “not being fun” after she continued drinking with colleagues, and sent “over 200 text messages in a matter of hours despite being told to leave her alone” and that Ms Hogg had a panic attack because of the messages.

Prosecutor Drew Long said the couple argued over where they would live and Hogg berated his wife for “not being fun” in a house with three children under the age of three.

Mr Long told the court: “Stuart Hogg and Gillian Hogg are a married couple going through a divorce. They have four children.

“During their marriage they lived in Hawick, the Scottish Borders, Glasgow and Exeter, before returning to the Borders where they separated in 2023.

“They lived in Glasgow where they moved to pursue Hogg’s career. They would argue over where the family lived.

He said Ms Hogg was “scared” of her husband when he became angry and she “wished it was morning so he would sober up”.

Mr Long said the couple moved to Exeter in 2019 with their three young children, all aged under three, but Hogg’s “behavior deteriorated” as he went out partying with colleagues .

The prosecutor told the court that Hogg would “scream, swear and accuse her of not being fun” for not drinking, and that Ms Hogg’s family “noticed a change in her”.

In 2022, Ms Hogg went out in the evening and was bombarded with text messages from her husband which “caught the attention of 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 “asked her where she was” while she was dropping the children off, Mr Long told the court.

In 2023, Ms Hogg decided to leave the rugby player and sought advice from a domestic violence service, the court heard.

The prosecutor said that in September 2023, Hogg sent so many messages that it “led (Ms Hogg) to have a panic attack”, and that Hogg “sent more than 200 text messages in a matter of hours while asked him to leave her alone. .

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

On February 21, police were called due to Hogg’s “screaming and swearing” and he was taken into custody and later placed on bail stipulating not to contact her or enter the family home.

The court heard that in August 2024, Hogg made a video call with his children and asked them to pass the device to Ms Hogg, despite instructions not to contact her.

Defending Hogg, Angela Gray KC said: “The incidents taken in isolation were unlikely to meet the threshold required for prosecution in the criminal courts. Mr Hogg acknowledges that these isolated incidents are not what is expected of a husband.

“It is accepted by Mr Hogg that his conduct, when considered under this framework (of the Domestic Violence Act 2018), was criminal in nature.”

She said the “deteriorated” relationship had received “additional scrutiny” and Hogg’s position was that his behavior was “never intended to be abusive”, the court heard.

Hogg will be sentenced at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday.