DISGRACED former Prem ref David Coote who downloaded an indecent video of a 15-year-old boy has a history of similar allegations, it has been revealed.
Coote, 43, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making indecent images of a child after admitting downloading the clip in January 2020 – found by police in the wake of Sun exposé.
Now it’s emerged he faced similar allegations – possessing an indecent image of a child – back in 2017, but was cleared after police took no action, The Telegraph reports.
Concerns were first passed onto police by the FA and the referees’ authority – the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) – eight years ago.
Police decided that no offence had taken place after reviewing the image.
Paul Armstrong, Coote’s lawyer, told the paper: “David was never even spoken to by the police and no criminal charges came from the allegations.”
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In August 2017, Coote, then 35, was removed from the officials’ list by PGMOL, and he temporarily stopped officiating matches.
No explanation was made public at the time, and Coote was not then a high-profile referee.
He returned to work after a few weeks.
Just months later, in April 2018, Coote took charge of his first Premier League match – a 1-0 victory for West Brom over Newcastle.
It’s understood he was also selected to give a talk at a junior referees’ conference organise by the FA that same year.
Coote was sacked by the PGMOL in December over an online tirade against ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
This week, he pleaded guilty to making a category A indecent image of a child at Nottingham Crown Court.
The court heard his “sexual attraction” to children was discovered when the FA launched an investigation into Coote.
Examinations of two mobile phones during the independent probe found “conversations of concern”.
Coote was arrested when the disturbing video was discovered on a Dell laptop, last accessed on January 2, 2020.
Category A is the most serious of the categories and carries a maximum sentence of three years.
The offence of making an indecent image of a child refers to downloading, sharing or saving abuse photos or videos.
The judge told Coote, who stood in the dock with his hands clasped in front of him, that she was ordering a pre-sentence report.
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She said: “You have pleaded guilty to a serious matter. Whether this means custody or not will be decided when all the information is before the court, which is why I have ordered a pre-sentence report.”
He was granted conditional bail ahead of a hearing on December 11.
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