Topic Lifecycle: Dormant
This topic is currently dormant in the news cycle. It was last covered on Wednesday 30 September 2026 and has not appeared in recent broadcasts.
Coverage trend (last 30 days)
How much coverage this topic got from each channel over the past month.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Recent stories
The latest story timelines linked to this topic, newest activity first.
What was reported
A plain summary of this topic, built from the channels that covered it.
Sky News and 5 reported that Graeme Dott had been sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually abusing children. Sky News described him as a former snooker world champion and said the abuse spanned almost 20 years and that one of the main incidents took place in 2006, around the time Dott won the World Snooker Championship. It reported that he sexually abused a young boy in a shower in the Glasgow area not long after winning that title and rewarded the boy with crisps and sweets, and that he also abused a girl who was nine at the time and is now in her 40s. 5 reported that the victims are now adults and that he subjected a boy and a girl of primary school age to abuse over a number of years. Both channels reported that the judge described the behaviour as a gross violation of trust. Sky News added that the judge described the behaviour as having the classic hallmarks of grooming and said it robbed the victims of their childhoods. Sky News said Dott protested his innocence in court, was sentenced in Edinburgh, and had been removed from the snooker world hall of fame.
Key Claims by Channel
| Claim |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Widely reported · 3 or more of 4 channels | ||||
| Graeme Dott was given a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted of sexually abusing children. | ||||
| The judge described Dott's behaviour as classic grooming and a serious breach of trust that deprived his victims of childhood. | ||||
| Reported by a few · 2 channels | ||||
| The abuse lasted almost 20 years and included a main incident in 2006 around the time Dott won the World Snooker Championship. | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | ||
| Only on one channel | ||||
| Graeme Dott is a former snooker world champion. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| Dott abused a girl who was nine at the time and is now in her 40s. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| A victim said Dott told her no one would believe her if she spoke up. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| Dott was removed from the snooker world hall of fame. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| Dott protested his innocence in the dock as he was sentenced. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| Dott was sentenced in Edinburgh. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| Dott was banned from snooker for life and removed from the Hall of Fame. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News | |
| The Crown Office welcomed the sentence and said Dott's behaviour was his downfall. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Sky News | |
This is a cross-channel consensus summary, not an objective account. Consensus can be uniformly wrong, or omit what only one channel covered.
Timeline
Where this topic appeared. Cells show coverage time and are darker when there was more coverage.
| Date | Channel 5 | BBC News | BBC One | BBC Two | Channel 4 | GB News | ITV | Sky News |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 30 September 2026 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2m 17s 2.1% |
| Tuesday 29 September 2026 | 2m 38s 6.4% | — | 4m 42s 4.7% | — | — | — | 2m 40s 4.0% | 3m 53s 3.7% |
| Monday 24 August 2026 | — | — | 2m 5s 2.3% | — | — | — | — | — |