Ex-referee David Coote sentenced over child image offence

Former Premier League referee David Coote has been given a suspended prison sentence after a child abuse video was found on his laptop.

The video, which showed a 15-year-old boy in a school uniform, was found on a device recovered by police in February last year.

Coote, from Woodhill, Collingham, Nottinghamshire, admitted a charge of making an indecent image of a child in relation to the category A video, the most serious kind, at Nottingham Crown Court in October.

The 43-year-old returned to the same court on Thursday and was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years. He was also given a sexual harm prevention order lasting 10 years.

The court heard analysis of Coote’s devices showed his Dell laptop had been connected to the hard drive and had made – in the sense of being downloaded and viewed on the screen – a category A moving image, which lasted two minutes and 11 seconds, on 2 January 2020.

Judge Nirmal Shant KC told Coote: “Those who commit this sort of offence must realise they involve a real child and that causes them damage.”

The charge of making an indecent image of a child refers to activities such as downloading, sharing or saving photos or videos containing abuse.

The video came to the police’s attention when Coote was being investigated by the FA, and a number of devices were seized and analysed when he was arrested at his home, Nottingham Magistrates’ Court was told in September.

He admitted the offence the following month, after initially pleading not guilty.

Defending Coote, Laura Miller said his actions on 2 January 2020 did not reflect him as a person, adding he was going through an “internal struggle” following the breakdown of a relationship.

She added he had faced a period of media scrutiny, to which the judge responded: “Some might say he has brought it on himself.”

Ms Miller told the court six years had passed since the offence and Coote, who is now working in an administrative job, was trying to “rebuild his life step by step”.

She said: “His life is a far cry from where it was at the height of his career, he knows he will never get that back.”

Coote was also cautioned for possession of cocaine after police visited his home, the court heard.

Addressing him ahead of sentencing, Judge Shant told Coote he had “had a spectacular fall from grace”.

Coote was sacked in 2024 when comments made in a video about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in 2020 came to light.

In August last year, he was given an eight-week suspension by the Football Association over the Klopp footage.

In addition, the ex-official is also banned by European football’s governing body Uefa until 30 June this year after photographs emerged of him snorting a white powder through a bank note while in Germany for Euro 2024.

Coote came out as gay in an interview with The Sun in January 2025 and said a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rant about Klopp.

In addition to the suspended prison sentence and sexual harm prevention order, Coote was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Shant said: “If you breach this order in any way, if there are any further offences – particularly sexual offences – you will be subject to being brought back to court.”

Additional reporting by PA Media