Sacked referee David Coote has avoided prison after pleading guilty to making an indecent image of a child.
The 43-year-old former Premier League official was given a sentence of nine months, suspended for two years.
At Nottingham Crown Court Her Honour Judge Nirmal Shant KC delivered the sentence after deciding Coote was at low-risk of reoffending and had taken steps towards rehabilitation.
Coote, sacked last December by refs' body PGMO, had previously admitted making one indecent image of a child of 'category A' on January 2, 2020. Prosecutors said the two minute, 11 second-video showed a teenage boy in school uniform, 15, undress until he was completely naked before performing sexual acts on himself.