Ex-Premier League referee David Coote avoids jail after sex abuse video of 15-year-old found on laptop
Former Premier League referee David Coote escaped prison after police discovered video of sexual abuse stored on a 15-year-old boy’s laptop, a court has heard.
He was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years at a hearing at Nottingham Crown Court after the judge told him he had suffered a “dazzling decline”.
Prosecutors said Thursday that a forensic analysis of Coote’s computer showed a two-minute, 11-second video showing a 15-year-old boy wearing a school uniform undressing until he was completely naked before performing a sexual act on himself.
Coote showed no apparent reaction as he was sentenced, but his hands were shaking as he left the dock.
The 43-year-old former match official appeared in court on charges of creating an indecent image of a child after the category A (the most serious type) video was found by police in February last year.
He pleaded guilty to the charge at a hearing in October and appeared at Nottingham Crown Court this morning for sentencing.
Crown attorney Jeremy Janes told the court the offense was “aggravated” by a moving image lasting more than two minutes.
Laura Jane Miller, defending, said the former referee was “deeply ashamed of himself and his actions”.
The disgraced referee first came to police attention after the Football Association (FA) investigated him for comments he made about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
Police said the man was arrested at his home in Woodhill Road, Nottinghamshire, in February 2025 and some of his devices were seized and analysed.
The charge of creating an indecent image of a child refers to activities such as downloading, sharing or recording abusive photos or videos.
Issuing the sentence, Judge Nirmal Shant KC told the suspended referee that he should have understood that such videos contained “real children being abused and all the harm that results from it”.
Ms Miller invited him to consider a suspended sentence and an unpaid work order, saying there was a “possibility of rehabilitation” and that it would save Coote from “being a burden on the public purse”.
Referring to his state of mind, Judge Shant told him: “You were a lonely man. You had recently been in a broken relationship. You had mental health problems and were using cocaine.”
He also took out a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, saying it would restrict his “contact and communication with children” and where he is allowed to reside.
As he left court, Coote refused to comment on the suspended prison sentence.
The former official was sacked by Professional Game Match Authors Limited in December 2024 after video emerged of comments he made about former Mr Klopp in 2020.
His misconduct was described as an aggravated breach of FA rules due to the reference to Klopp’s nationality. In August last year, he was given an eight-week suspension by the Football Federation due to the images.
He was also banned until 30 June 2026 by European football’s governing body UEFA, after a different video emerged showing him snorting white powder from inside a banknote while in Germany for Euro 2024.
In January 2025, Coote revealed in an interview that he is gay. SunHe said his lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rumor about Mr Klopp.
