Ricky Bibey, a 40-year-old former rugby league player, was discovered dead in a £350 per night riverside hotel in Florence, Italy.
The former athlete, who had retired from the game in 2012 and was employed as an estate agent, passed away this morning following a seizure.
He played in 215 games for five different rugby league teams, including three seasons with his home team, the Leigh Centurions.
The authorities were able to identify Bibey, according to the local newspaper La Nazione.
On Friday night, he arrived in the charming city with a woman.
At two in the morning on Saturday, they returned to the Hotel Continentale “in excellent spirits.”
However, after spending some time in their hotel room together, Bibey had a seizure.
It is believed that the woman was found bloodied and injured.
She is currently in a hospital.
This morning, Wakefield Trinity posted on Twitter that it was saddened to learn of the 40-year-old passing of former prop-forward Ricky Bibey.
We offer Ricky’s family and friends our condolences during this trying time.
Leigh East, the team that Bibey joined as a junior, also showed their respect.
“All at the club are saddened to hear about the death of our former junior Ricky Bibey who passed away on vacation,” a club representative tweeted.
“Ricky” played professionally for a variety of teams, including Wakefield, Leigh, Wigan, and St. Helens. At this difficult time, our thoughts are with his family and friends.
Following the death of a British man in Florence, the Foreign Office declared: “We are in touch with the Italian police.”
A little distance from the well-known Ponte Vecchio bridge, paramedics hurried to the hotel.
The woman was brought to the Careggi hospital in the city, where it was reported that she was in a critical but stable condition.
The alarm was set off early on Saturday morning even though the couple had only arrived at the hotel on Friday night.
The people involved are both British, and at the moment, we are investigating two theories: an erotic game gone wrong or some sort of personal dispute, but the overall direction is that of an erotic game, according to a police source who reported.
The woman was also discovered with several scratches, bruises, and other injuries on her body, but she was in much worse condition than the man, who had what appeared to be some sort of seizure.
The woman has been brought to a hospital for treatment, and there is blood in the room where the forensic teams are currently working.
Although she is stable and in a bad condition right now, her injuries are not life-threatening.
Within the following few hours, we intend to question her.
According to sources, the pair was from Manchester, owned a high-end estate agency, and arrived at the hotel late on Friday night.
In “great spirits,” according to witnesses, the couple left immediately after arriving on Friday and returned just before 2am on Saturday.
Despite not being married to the deceased guy, according to police sources, the woman had children from a previous relationship.