Former Wigan Warriors star Gareth Hock in court before trial for rape, assaults and other criminal offences

The 40-year-old is accused of 12 crimes in total, including two rapes, five counts of causing actual bodily harm, assault by beating, coercive and controlling behaviour and perverting the course of justice.

He has entered not guilty pleas to all the above as well as charges of leaving the scene of a road smash and failing to report such an incident.

A 10-day trial at Bolton Crown Court has been set by Judge Martin Walsh for April 15 2024 where the ex-Super League forward will be questioned by prosecutors.

Yesterday (March 28) he appeared at the court for a pre-trial review which simply confirmed that the hearing will go ahead as planned on the dates fixed.

Hock is bailed under specific conditions that include surrendering his passport, wearing a GPS tracking tag and sleeping every night at his home address in Orrell.

As far as the motoring offence charges are concerned, it is alleged that Hock was at the wheel of an Audi A6 which crashed on Gathurst Road in Orrell, on November 11 2022 and then drove off without stopping.

Hock began his career with his hometown club Wigan Warriors in 2003 and made almost 200 appearances for the Cherry and Whites.

He earned four caps for Great Britain and five for England, for whom he played in the 2008 world cup in Australia.

He later went on to play for Widnes, Salford, Featherstone, Barrow and Leigh.

He retired as a player in 2019 after he made a total of 313 career appearances, scoring 81 tries.

In 2022, he set up a new business venture hiring out skips.