Ex-Premier League referee David Coote jailed over indecent image

Former Premier League referee David Coote has been sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to making an indecent image of a child.

Coote, who was sentenced by the Nottingham Crown Court in the United Kingdom on Thursday, was also suspended for two years.

The court heard that police seized the disgraced former referee’s electronic devices and an explicit two-minute video of a 15-year-old boy, initially in a school uniform, from January 2 2020, was found on his laptop.

Coote, 43, was charged in October with an allegation relating to a category A video, the most serious kind, recovered by police in February.

Prosecutors told the court the video found on his laptop showed the boy undress until he was completely naked, before performing sexual acts on himself.

The said the clip was found after a separate probe into comments he made about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in 2020.

The court heard the former referee answered no comment to relevant questions in a police interview in February 2025, and was cautioned after officers found cocaine in his house in the same month.

Sparing Coote an immediate prison sentence, Judge Nirmal Shant KC 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 said: “You were a lonely man. You had a relationship that had broken down recently.

“You had mental health difficulties and you were consuming cocaine, which of course was your choice, but it had a direct effect on your thinking.”

Coote was granted access to an area normally reserved for witnesses before leaving the court building via a private exit marked “probation liaison office”.

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He did not speak when asked if he had any comment to make.

Coote’s lawyer Laura Jane Miller told Sky Sports he was “deeply ashamed of himself”.

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

Coote was sacked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited in December 2024 after a video of comments he made about Klopp came to light.

In August 2025, Coote was given an eight-week suspension by the Football Association over the Klopp footage.

In January last year, Coote came out as gay and said a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to his comments about Klopp.

The Star