Snooker Champion Graeme Dott Found Guilty of Abusing Two Children

Graeme Dott, who won the World Snooker Championship in 2006, has been found guilty of sexually abusing two young children. A jury at the High Court in Glasgow delivered the verdict on Monday 24 August 2026, after a five-day trial. Dott, 49, was convicted of two counts of what Scottish law calls "lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour" towards the two children The Guardian.

The abuse took place over more than ten years and involved two victims. Dott abused a girl between 1993 and 1996 and a boy between 2006 and 2010. The offences happened in the Glasgow area, with earlier reporting also mentioning South Lanarkshire in connection with the allegations The Guardian; BBC News.

Dott denied the charges. In court, he said there was "absolutely no way" he sexually abused two children. The jury did not believe him and found him guilty on both counts.

The charge Dott was convicted under, "lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour," is an old Scottish legal term for sexual misconduct involving children. It comes from common law, meaning it is based on court decisions handed down over centuries rather than a specific law passed by Parliament. It can carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, but the judge decides the actual sentence based on the details of the case. No sentencing hearing has been set yet, which is normal after a guilty verdict while social work reports and risk assessments are prepared.

Dott won the World Snooker Championship in 2006 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, beating Peter Ebdon in the final. That win made him one of a small number of Scottish world champions in the sport. The abuse of the boy began in 2006, the same year Dott won that title.

The two sets of offences happened about ten years apart. The abuse of the girl took place in the mid-1990s, when Dott was in his late teens. The abuse of the boy ran from 2006 to 2010, when Dott was already an established professional player. The two victims' accounts were separated by roughly a decade, but the jury heard both and found Dott guilty on each count.

Both victims were primary-school-age, which Scottish courts treat as especially serious. The reason Dott was charged under common law rather than newer laws from the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 is that some of the abuse happened before that law existed. Scottish law allows courts to use common-law charges for older offences, as long as the behaviour was illegal at the time it occurred.

The trial lasted five days, suggesting the evidence was presented in a focused way. The jury deliberated and returned its verdicts on the final day. The High Court in Glasgow is Scotland's main criminal trial court and handles the most serious cases. It uses a system called solemn procedure, which requires a jury of 15 people, unlike lower courts where a sheriff may sit alone.

The broader context here is how the justice system handles cases of child sexual abuse involving well-known sporting figures, often years or decades after the abuse happened. Scottish courts have increasingly used common-law charges for older offences that predate modern laws, and the Dott case follows that pattern. The gap between the most recent offences, which ended in 2010, and the trial in 2026 is typical of such cases, where victims come forward long after the abuse took place.

For snooker, Dott's conviction adds a criminal element to the challenges the sport's leaders already face. World Snooker Tour and other governing bodies will now face questions about how they protect people in the sport and whether they will take their own disciplinary action alongside or after the criminal case.