Former Premier League referee David Coote has sentencing delayed

The sentencing of former Premier League referee David Coote over a child abuse video found on his device has been delayed until next month.

Coote, 43, pleaded guilty to making an indecent image of a child, at a court hearing in October, after a category A video, the most serious kind, was discovered by police.

He was due to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday for sentence but it was adjourned to January 8 because his barrister could not attend for medical reasons.

Judge Nirmal Shant KC said she was "simply not prepared" to deal with the sentencing if his lawyer appeared in court by video-link.

Coote, of Woodhill Road in Collingham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, did not attend court for the three-minute hearing to reschedule the sentencing.

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

An earlier magistrates' court hearing was told the video came to the police's attention after the Football Association's investigation into Coote.

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

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

The former referee came out as gay in January and said a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rant about Klopp.

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