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Disgraced ex-Premier League referee, David Coote, has pleaded guilty to making an indecent image of a child and could face up to 10 years in prison.
The 43-year-old, who was sacked by refs' body PGMOL last year, appeared this morning at Nottingham Crown Court.
Coote, from Newark, admitted making one indecent image of a child of 'category A' on January 2, 2020.
Category A is the most serious of the categories, and the charge relates to acts such as downloading, sharing, and saving material. The maximum sentence is 10 years in custody.
Coote accessed the video via a Dell laptop. He will be now be liable to the notification requirements of the Sex Offender’s Register. How long he will be on the Register for will depend on his sentence.
A sentencing hearing has been set for December 11.
Coote wore a blue suit, white shirt and black tie and shoes. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the offence at the city’s magistrates court.
Following his plea Judge Nirmal Shant KC warned Coote that he may face custody: 'As far as you are concerned you have pleaded guilty to a serious matter. Whether custody or not will be decided when all the information is before the court.
'You mustn’t go away with impression that this automatically means a non-custodial sentence - it doesn’t.'
Coote was released on conditional bail. He is not permitted to have contact with a child under the age of 18 or to reside at an address where persons under 18 reside.
He has also been made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, which restricts his activities.
In certain cases, those subject to such orders are not permitted to clear their browsing histories and their online activity can be restricted.
At a hearing last month, Ben Payne, prosecuting, said that the matter had come to the police's attention following the FA's investigation into Coote and that mobile phones had been examined by a third party.
'Two conversations that were of concern appeared to indicate Mr Coote had a sexual interest in children,' Mr Payne added.
Following a police investigation Payne said that Coote was arrested at his home address and a PGMOL-registered Dell laptop was subsequently seized.
A Category A video, featuring moving image of a child aged 15 was found and was accessed on the date referenced in the charge.
The laptop was seized on August 12, more than eight months after Coote had been sacked by PGMOL.
Coote, a top-flight and international mainstay, was sacked in December after a video emerged of him making disparaging remarks about ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
In June, Coote was charged by the Football Association over the comments he made about Klopp, having labelled the former Liverpool boss a 'German ****' in the video.
Referencing Klopp's German nationality constituted an 'aggravated breach' of the rules, according to the FA.
Earlier this summer PGMOL chief Howard Webb ruled out a return to officiating for Coote.
'I think it'd be really difficult for David to come back, I'm afraid to say,' Webb said.
'He is somebody that we stay in contact with, somebody who was part of our refereeing family for a long time and served the game as well for a long period of time, and I've known him personally for many years.
'So it's sad what happened with with David, but I would think it would be challenging thing for him to come back.'
Coote expressed remorse for his actions and spoke about being in a dark place at the time the videos were taken. He also said that he had hidden the fact he was gay during his career for fear of subsequent abuse.
'My sexuality isn't the only reason that led me to be in that position. But I'm not telling an authentic story if I don't say that I'm gay and that I've had real struggles with hiding that,' he said.
'I hid my emotions as a young ref and I hid my sexuality as well - a good quality as a referee but a terrible quality as a human being. And that's led me to a whole course of behaviours.'
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