Former English Premier League Referee Faces Jail After Admitting To Child Abuse Image Offence
You have pleaded guilty to a serious matter,” Judge Shant told the 43-year-old during a brief hearing. “Whether this means custody or not will be decided when all the information is before the court.”
Presiding over Nottingham Crown Court, Judge Nirmal Shant KC made it clear that former Premier League referee David Coote will not avoid sentencing after pleading guilty to making an indecent image of a child.
You have pleaded guilty to a serious matter,” Judge Shant told the 43-year-old during a brief hearing. “Whether this means custody or not will be decided when all the information is before the court.”
The court was told that the Category A video, the most severe classification of child sexual abuse material, was extracted by Coote from a hard drive to a laptop on 2 January 2020. Despite initially pleading not guilty in September, Coote reversed his position and admitted to the offence during the six-minute hearing, speaking only to confirm his name and enter his plea.
According to the BBC, Coote, who was granted conditional bail, is due to return to court on 11 December for sentencing.
In ordering a pre-sentence report, Judge Shant issued a stark warning: “You must not go away with the impression that this will not lead to a custodial sentence.”
The remarks underline the court’s position that, regardless of Coote’s public profile or past career, the seriousness of the offence will be met with an appropriate judicial response. As the judge made plain, Coote will not escape sentencing.
Coote was sacked last year when comments made in a video about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in 2020 came to light.
In August this year, he was given an eight-week suspension by the Football Association over the Klopp footage.
In January, Coote came out as gay in an interview with The Sun and said a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rant about Klopp.
