Ex-Premier League Referee David Coote handed suspended jail term over child image case

Former Premier League referee David Coote has been handed a suspended prison sentence after admitting to making an indecent image of a child, with the judge describing his case as a “spectacular fall from grace”.

Coote, 43, had earlier pleaded guilty to making an indecent moving image of a child, which the court said was of the most serious category.

At Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, Coote was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years. Witnesses in court said his arms and hands were shaking as the sentence was delivered.

Prosecutors told the court that a video found on Coote’s laptop involved a child and contained indecent content. The court heard that the footage lasted just over two minutes.

The judge said the offence marked a sharp and damaging end to Coote’s career and standing in football.

The court heard the clip was found after a separate probe into derogatory comments he made about ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in 2020.

His electronic devices were seized by police in February last year, and the video of the schoolboy from January 2020, was found on the hard drive of his laptop.

Sparing Coote an immediate prison sentence, judge Nirmal Shant told the former referee: “You have had a spectacular fall from grace.”

She told him videos such as the one Coote had downloaded “involve a real child being abused”, adding that those viewing similar material should bear in mind the “consequent damage that follows from it”.

Speaking about his state of mind, Shant told him: “You were a lonely man. You had a relationship that had broken down recently.

“You had mental health difficulties and you were consuming cocaine.”

Coote was sacked by referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited in December 2024 after the video showing remarks about Klopp came to light.

He was also banned from officiating by European governing body UEFA until June 2026 after a different video emerged of him snorting a white powder through a bank note while in Germany for Euro 2024.

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