David Coote given suspended jail term after child sex abuse video found

Independent.co reports that former Premier League referee David Coote avoided immediate jail after being sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for two years at Nottingham Crown Court, after police found a sex abuse video featuring a 15-year-old boy on his laptop. Forensic analysis, prosecutors said, showed a two minutes and 11 seconds-long category A video had been viewed that depicted a 15-year-old undressing and performing sexual acts on himself.

Coote pleaded guilty to making an indecent image of a child at a hearing in October. He was arrested at his Woodhill Road home in Nottinghamshire in February 2025 and a number of his devices were seized and analysed, police said. Crown counsel said the offence was aggravated because it was a moving image over two minutes; the defence told the court Coote is "deeply ashamed" and asked for a suspended sentence and unpaid work.

Judge Nirmal Shant KC told him he must understand such videos involve "real children being abused, with all the consequent damage that comes from it" and imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order restricting his contact with children and where he may reside. Coote was sacked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited in December 2024 after a video of comments he made about Jurgen Klopp in 2020 came to light, an aggravated breach under FA rules due to a reference to nationality.

Key Topics

Sports, David Coote, Premier League, Nottingham Crown Court, Football Association