Disgraced Former Premier League Referee David Coote Spared Jail Despite Police Finding Sexual Video of 15-Year-Old Boy in School Uniform on His Laptop

Former Premier League referee **David Coote**, 43, has been handed a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to making a Category A indecent moving image of a child — the most serious classification — following the discovery of an explicit video featuring a 15-year-old boy in school uniform on his laptop.

Coote, once a high-profile official who refereed over 100 top-flight matches and served as a VAR at Euro 2024, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, January 8, 2026, where he was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work in the community and made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which restricts his contact and communication with children, as well as his living arrangements and requirement to notify police of personal details.

Here are key images from David Coote's court appearances and related coverage:

The offence relates to a single 2-minute, 11-second video downloaded on January 2, 2020, which prosecutors described as showing the boy undressing from his school uniform until naked and then performing sexual acts on himself. The material was extracted from a hard drive to a Dell laptop (registered to PGMOL, the referees' body) and discovered during a police search of Coote's home in February 2025.

The investigation stemmed from an unrelated probe into Coote's conduct as a referee, including a leaked video of derogatory comments about former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp from 2020, which led to his sacking by PGMOL in December 2024. Additional scandals, including an FA suspension and a UEFA ban until June 2026 over separate allegations, preceded the criminal charge.

Judge Nirmal Shant KC described Coote's downfall as a “spectacular fall from grace,” emphasizing that such offences involve “real children being abused” with lasting damage. Coote's defence highlighted his remorse, mental health struggles, cocaine use (for which he was cautioned), and low risk of reoffending, noting his career and reputation are “irrevocably tarnished.”

Coote, from Collingham near Newark, Nottinghamshire, showed no visible emotion in the dock but trembled as the sentence was passed. He left court via a private exit without commenting.