Rugby star ‘ bugged his wife then attacked man he thought was her lover’
A rETIrED rugby ace bugged his estranged wife’s house and then attacked a man he suspected her of having an affair with, a court heard.
Simon Danielli, 37, threw spouse olivia to the ground as he ‘kicked and punched’ her friend Michael Browne in the street.
The 6ft 2ins, 17-stone former Bath winger then returned to the marital home to rip out recording devices he had allegedly put in the hallway.
Mrs Danielli was wearing no ring on her wedding finger as she told the court how she and her oxford-educated husband – who represented Scotland at two World Cups – were married in 2009 but separated in September 2014.
Magistrates heard how the alleged incident took place six months after the split when the 29-year-old visited Mr Browne at his house.
He was walking her back to her car when she said: ‘There’s Simon – run!’ Mrs Danielli told of her shock as her husband chased after Mr Browne before he was ‘on top of him, kicking him and punching him’.
The former model – whose property developer father Shamus Jennings is one of Northern Ireland’s richest
‘There’s Simon – run!’
men, worth an estimated £67million – said Danielli used his phone to film the attack.
When she brought out her own mobile he grabbed it and threw it, smashing the screen, she added.
Mrs Danielli, who has three children with her husband, told the court that she drove home to find Danielli ‘pulling wires out of the hall’, which she believes were recording devices.
She said: ‘Simon used to record me in my house and my car. He had managed to get recording devices back in the house again.’
Mark Mulholland QC, defending, said the attack was ‘ nothing more than a scuffle’ and that Mr Browne’s injuries were caused as he fell while running away.
under cross- examination, Mr Browne accepted knowing that the former rugby player ‘ suspected there was something going on’ between him and his wife. He said he ‘felt blows to my head and body’ during the scuffle.
Yesterday the court heard that Danielli was questioned by police and had his assets frozen over claims he stole £250,000 from his wife’s bank account. However, Mr Mulholland suggested to Mrs Danielli that it was ‘a fabrication’ against a man that her father ‘said he would destroy’. The rugby star was no longer a police suspect, he said. Mrs Danielli also denied suggestions that she was ‘over-egging’ the attack.
Danielli, who studied theology and philosophy at oxford, denies common assault and criminal damage in relation to his estranged wife. He admits common assault on Mr Browne but says the chase resulted in his fall.
Mrs Danielli is herself due to go on trial accused of damaging her husband’s Jaguar XF car in August last year. At one stage she was also accused of assaulting her husband, but the charge was later dropped.
Danielli made 41 appearances for Bath between 2001 and 2004 before retiring from rugby in 2012 because of a back injury.
Born in Edinburgh, he originally played for England junior sides alongside Mike Tindall and Jonny Wilkinson before opting to represent the nation of his birth.
He famously saved Scotland from an embarrassing defeat against romania in their first game of the 2011 World Cup by scoring two tries in the final minutes of the match. Danielli, who went to £34,500a-year Cheltenham College, was previously engaged to model Danielle Bux, who later married Gary Lineker.
He now works as an investment adviser with Londonbased firm Agathos Management and regularly provides rugby commentary for BBC radio ulster.
He lives in Holywood, County Down, where the alleged incident took place in March 2015. The trial, at Newtownards Magistrates Court near Belfast, continues.