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Ricky Bibey, pictured playing rugby league for the Wakefield Wildcats, has died in an Italian hotel.
Italian police are investigating after a former England rugby player was found dead in a hotel in Florence.
A BBC report said former Wigan and St Helens attacker Ricky Bibey, 40, was found by hotel staff “next to a seriously injured 43-year-old woman, believed to be his partner”.
The woman was taken to Careggi Hospital in Florence.
A spokesman for the British Foreign Office, Commonwealth and Development told the BBC that the department was “in contact with Italian police following the death of a British man in Florence”.
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Bibey began his professional rugby career with the Wigan Warriors in 2001 and won a Challenge Cup medal with the club in 2002.
He later played for St Helens, Oldham and Wakefield Trinity and had two spells with his hometown club, Leigh Centurions.
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Ricky Bibey of Wakefield is tackled in 2007 by Andrew Bentley of the Catalans Dragons.
The former prop or second rower also won the Challenge Cup with St Helens in 2004, along with former Kiwis center Willie Talau.
Bibey, who played two games for England A in 2002, last played with Leigh in 2012 before having to retire with an Achilles tendon injury.
Wigan, St Helens and Wakefield clubs have all expressed their condolences on social media to Bibey’s family.