Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott has been sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of child sexual abuse.
Dott, 49, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on 29 September following his conviction on two charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour towards a girl and a boy between 1993 and 2010. The sentence was backdated to 24 August, when he was remanded in custody.
The court heard that the offences involved two children who were vulnerable because of factors beyond their age. Judge Lord Harrower said Dott had taken a significant part of their childhoods and characterised the conduct as a gross violation of trust which bore the hallmarks of grooming.
The former 2006 world champion denied both charges during a five-day trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Reports from the hearing said that he continued to maintain his innocence at sentencing.
Court heard evidence concerning two children
The first charge concerned a girl who was of primary-school age when the abuse began between 1993 and 1996. The second concerned a boy, with incidents said to have occurred between 2006 and 2010, when he was about eight years old.
According to the BBC, Lord Harrower said both victims had experienced enduring fear, shame and anger, with effects on their mental health continuing into adulthood. The judge said Dott had used treats as rewards and had presented abuse as part of a game. The BBC also reported that the judge said Dott had warned the children they would not be believed if they told anyone about his actions. Its report said the judge regarded each victim as vulnerable for reasons beyond age.
The BBC reported that Dott was 16 or 17 when the abuse of the girl began and that she was about nine at the time. It said the abuse of the boy began around a decade later, when he was about eight. The Guardian reported that the guilty verdicts were returned by a majority after the Glasgow trial, while SnookerHQ said the trial lasted five days.
The court also heard that Dott had been contacted by police about allegations involving the girl in 2001, although no charges were brought at that stage. A new statement was made to police in 2025, the BBC reported.
Lord Harrower said social-work reports assessed Dott as presenting a below-average risk of reoffending. However, the judge said Dott’s continued denial meant remorse could not be taken into account in sentencing.
Dott will remain on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life, according to the BBC.
Snooker’s governing body had already acted
The conviction has already brought formal consequences within the sport. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association said after the verdict that it had permanently revoked Dott’s membership with immediate effect, according to the BBC and SnookerHQ.
The governing body had suspended Dott from professional snooker activity in April 2025 while the criminal case was pending. SnookerHQ reported that the WPBSA also asked the World Snooker Tour to remove him from its Hall of Fame, and Dott has since been removed.
That action means the sentence is not simply a legal outcome involving a former player; it also confirms that Dott no longer has membership of the sport’s professional governing body.
A former world champion
Dott became world champion in 2006 when he beat Peter Ebdon in the final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. He had previously reached the World Championship final in 2004 and returned to the final in 2010, reports said.
He was still competing on the World Snooker Tour when the allegations became the subject of criminal proceedings, before being suspended from professional snooker activity in April 2025.
Its sporting relevance rests on Dott’s former status as a world champion and on the WPBSA’s decision to revoke his membership following his conviction, rather than on any competitive development on the current tour.