Shamed rugby star Stuart Hogg could be unceremoniously stripped of his MBE after a senior MP made a formal complaint following his domestic abuse conviction.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has written to the Cabinet Office to recommend that the honour – awarded just a year ago – is removed.
A forfeiture committee is expected to now consider the issue and could then make recommendations to the Prime Minister and King to forfeit the MBE.
The bid came as prosecutors faced mounting pressure to challenge the ‘outrageously’ lenient sentence imposed on 32-year-old Hogg following his five-year campaign of domestic abuse against his wife Gillian, 38.
The former Scotland captain avoided jail when he was sentenced at Selkirk Sheriff Court in Thursday.
Instead he was handed a Community Payback Order under which he will be supervised over the next 12 months for the torment he inflicted on the mother of his four children.
Campaigners insisted the Crown Office must appeal for a tougher sentence on the former Scotland captain as it amounts only to remote contact with a social worker in Scotland from his home in France where he now plays for Montpellier – and no unpaid work.
On his MBE, Mr Flynn said the UK Government must take ‘urgent action’ to strip him of it. He said: ‘It cannot be right that someone convicted of domestic abuse is able to retain an award from the UK state that seemingly puts them on a pedestal as an example to others.
‘It’s particularly important to send a clear message to men and boys that abuse against women is never acceptable in any form.’
He said the honour should be removed to ‘prevent any appearance of honouring or celebrating those who are guilty of perpetrating abuse.’
In his letter to the Cabinet Office, Mr Flynn wrote: ‘Mr Hogg has recently been convicted and sentenced for domestic abuse.
‘It is inconceivable to consider that he can continue to be regarded as “an example to others” and be permitted to retain a state honour in such circumstances.
First Minister John Swinney described Mr Flynn’s demand as ‘reasonable and understandable’.
He said it was ‘very disappointing, incredible disappointing’ that a role model such as Hogg who was one of his nation’s greatest ever rugby players should be convicted of domestic abuse.
Government guidance says honours can be forfeited for a variety of reasons, including ‘being found guilty of a criminal offence’.
It adds: ‘Both we and the wider community expect recipients of honours to be, and to remain, good citizens and role models.’
Selkirk Sheriff Court heard Hogg had regularly shouted and sworn at his wife. He tracked her movements using a mobile phone app and bombarded her with texts – often abusive and sometimes as many as 200 in a few hours.
At homes in both Exeter and Hawick, he frequently drank heavily and when she hid upstairs with their children he berated her for ‘not being fun’. His abuse made his wife suffer a panic attack – and even when a court order was in place forbidding him from approaching her, he breached it.
The sentence imposed by Sheriff Peter Paterson includes a non-harassment order banning him from having any contact with her for five years.
But it was the community payback order – restricted merely to remote ‘supervision’ – which provoked an outcry.
The former international’s estranged wife told The Sun: ‘Stuart’s had absolutely no punishment. My first thought was, is that it? It’s not enough.’
One prominent campaigner against domestic abuse David Challen, told the Mail: ‘I firmly believe that the Crown Office should appeal against Stuart Hogg’s sentence, as it appears overly lenient given the seriousness of his actions and the profound harm caused to the victim.
‘Such an appeal would send a vital message about the importance of accountability in cases of domestic abuse and coercive control.’
Earlier, Mr Challen told Radio 5 Live the maximum sentence for such an offence was 14 years in jail. He said: ‘How or why this man has got a one-year community order is befuddling to all of us and insulting to the victim.’
Another campaigner, forensic psychologist Gill Harrop of Worcester University, said: ‘Hogg terrorised his victim for five years, taking away her basic human right to feel safe. Handing down such a lenient sentence sends a message to all victims of coercive control that this type of behaviour is not considered to be serious or worthy of punishment.
‘It’s not enough just to say that violence and abuse is taken seriously by the criminal justice system – this has to be followed up with actions, and in the case of Stuart Hogg, I believe these actions should involve appealing this overly lenient sentence.
Responding to inquiries about the MBE, a Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘We don’t comment on individual honours.’
A Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service spokesman said: ‘Sentencing decisions are made by the Sheriff. The law only allows COPFS to appeal in very rare circumstances.
‘As with all cases, COPFS will consider the sentence and determine whether it might meet the test of being unduly lenient.’
Hogg and his wife are divorcing. He is now in a relationship with TV horse racing pundit Leonna Mayor, who is pregnant with his child.
The player has won 100 caps for Scotland and is one of the country’s top try scorers. He retired in 2023 to focus on a TV career but last year joined Montpellier on a reported £350,000 a year.