Ex-Premier League Referee David Coote sentenced in child sex offense case

Former Premier League referee David Coote has been sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, at Nottingham Crown Court following the discovery of a sexual video of a 15-year-old boy on his laptop.

During sentencing, Judge Shant told Coote,

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The 43-year-old, from Woodhill Road, Collingham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty in October to making an indecent image of a child, after a Category A video—the most serious classification—was recovered by police in February last year as part of a Football Association (FA) investigation.

The charge of making an indecent image of a child encompasses actions such as downloading, sharing, or saving abusive content. Coote was arrested at his home after authorities seized and analyzed several devices linked to him.

During the sentencing hearing, Laura Jane Miller, representing Coote, urged the court to suspend an immediate prison term. She told the court that Coote had struggled with mental health issues since 2017, stemming from a relationship breakdown, and had begun using cocaine around 2019. Miller emphasized that he had lost his career and reputation under intense media scrutiny and had been sober since his arrest in February 2025.

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Miller said,

In addition to the suspended sentence, Coote has been placed on the sex offender register for 10 years, handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, barred from working with children, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Coote was previously sacked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited in December 2024 following the emergence of controversial comments he made about former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp in 2020.