Former Premier League referee David Coote has pleaded guilty to making an indecent image of a child.
The ex-official appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday in connection with an allegation relating to a category A video, the most serious kind, recovered by police in February.
Coote (43), who wore a navy suit and black tie, spoke only to confirm his name and enter his plea during the six-minute hearing in front of judge Nirmal Shant.
The former referee, of Woodhill Road in Collingham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, was granted conditional bail by the judge and told he must appear in court again on December 11th.
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The judge told Coote that she was ordering a pre-sentence report to be carried out before he was to be sentenced.
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.”
Coote had pleaded not guilty when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court last month.
The charge of making an indecent image relates to acts such as downloading, sharing and saving material.
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. – Agencies
