Ricky Bibey, a former rugby league star, was discovered dead at a £350 per night riverside hotel in Florence, Italy.
The former athlete, who gave up playing in 2012, passed away early yesterday.
The 40-year-old played for five rugby league teams in 215 matches, spending three seasons with his hometown team, the Leigh Centurions.
The authorities were able to identify Bibey, according to the local newspaper La Nazione.
He is believed to have arrived in the charming city on Friday night with a woman, and they returned to the Hotel Continentale around 2am on Saturday “in high spirits.”
It’s believed that the woman was found bleeding and injured before being rushed to the hospital.
MailOnline was informed by police sources in Florence that they planned to question the woman either this evening or, ideally, tomorrow morning.
She is recuperating but is still sedated, so we are awaiting approval from hospital staff, an insider added.
It won’t be a formal questioning and she hasn’t been arrested; rather, the focus is on attempting to comprehend what took place in the room.
It had been hoped that the man’s autopsy would take place today, but it will instead take place on Monday.
