Former Premier League referee<\/span> David Coote was given a suspended prison sentence Thursday for storing sexual videos of minors on his laptop.<\/p>\nCoote had previously pleaded guilty to making indecent videos of children of the most serious type, the British Press Association reported.<\/p>\n
He was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, at Nottingham Crown Court.<\/p>\n
Coote’s electronic devices were seized by police in February last year, and a video of the 15-year-old boy in school uniform taken on January 2, 2020, was discovered on the former referee’s laptop hard drive.<\/p>\n
“You have failed spectacularly,” Judge Nirmal Shant told the 43-year-old Coote, whose arms and hands were trembling as the sentence was handed down, according to a Pennsylvania News report.<\/p>\n
Couto was allowed access to an area normally reserved for witnesses before exiting the court building through a special exit marked “Probation Liaison Office.” When asked if he had any comments, he did not say anything.<\/p>\n
Coote’s lawyer, Laura Jane Miller, said Coote was “deeply ashamed of himself and his actions.”<\/p>\n
“For the past six years, Mr Coote has been under intense media scrutiny,” she told the court. “He has expressed remorse to the Probation Service for this violation.”<\/p>\n
The video was discovered after a separate investigation into comments Couto made about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in 2020.<\/p>\n
Coote was suspended for eight weeks and ordered to undergo an in-person make-up education program. offensive comment<\/span> He spoke about manager Klopp in a private video that ended up being widely shared on social media and led to the match official’s sacking.<\/p>\nCouto was initially suspended.<\/span> Following an investigation into his conduct, he was later sacked as the British Football Referees deemed his position “untenable”.<\/p>\nSo was Kut. investigated<\/span> The Football Association made the announcement in response to allegations from British newspaper The Sun that the club had discussed with fans the possibility of yellow cards being given to players during matches. Coote has denied any wrongdoing and the FA announced in June that no charges had been laid in connection with its investigation.<\/p>\nSeparately, UEFA<\/span> A video of Couto allegedly using cocaine during the 2024 European Championships was again published in The Sun newspaper, sparking an investigation into him.<\/p>\n___<\/p>\n
AP Soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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