Former Premier League referee David Coote has been spared jail for having a sexual video of a schoolboy found on his laptop.
43-year-old Coote, who is from Nottingham, was today (8) sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years.
Addressing Coote, Judge Nirmal Shant KC said: “You have had a spectacular fall from grace.”
The judge ordered that he carries out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community. He was also made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, restricting his “contact and communication with children”.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the category A footage – the most serious kind – showed a 15-year-old boy in a school uniform.
Coote had previously pleaded guilty to making an indecent moving image of a child of the most serious kind.
Prosecutors said the clip on his laptop was found during a separate investigation into comments the referee had made about ex-Liverpool manager Jurgan Klopp in a controversial video that surfaced online.
Nottinghamshire Police seized Coote’s electronic devices in February last year. The former referee was charged with making an indecent moving image of a child in September and pleaded guilty in October.
