Former Premier League referee David Coote denies child abuse video allegation

Former Premier League referee David Coote has pleaded not guilty to making an indecent image of a child.

The ex-official appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged over allegations relating to a video, which has been put in category A, the most serious, recovered by officers in February.

The 43-year-old, who wore a navy suit, sat at the back of the court room and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and to enter his plea during the 18-minute long hearing.

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

The allegation relates to a video recovered by officers from Nottinghamshire Police in February before Coote was charged on August 12, the force said.

The former referee, of Woodhill Road in Collingham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, was granted conditional bail by District Judge Gillian Young and was told to appear at Nottingham Crown Court for a further hearing on October 9.

The court heard the video came to the police’s attention following the Football Association’s investigation into Coote.

A number of devices were seized and analysed when Coote was arrested at his home, and the category A video was found, the court heard.

Coote was told his bail conditions are to not have unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, and to not live at an address with anyone under that age.

After entering his plea, Coote elected for his trial to be heard at a crown court.

Fraser Williamson, defending Coote, made an application to the court to prevent the publication of the ex-official’s address because threats were made to him while he was a referee.

Ms Young refused the application without hearing representations from the press, and said: “It is absolutely wrong for any professional to be subject to threats.

“I recognise that while Mr Coote is the subject of significant interest from the press, he is no longer working as a referee. I find it unlikely he will now be the subject of threats because of his refereeing decisions in the past.

“I’m not satisfied that disclosing his home address would frustrate or render impracticable the administration of justice.”

Coote was sacked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited in December after a video of comments he had made about ex-Liverpool boss 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.