A social care worker has admitted having sex several times with a teenage girl in his care at the home where he was supposed to be looking after her.
Michael Wilkinson, 32, admitted abusing his position and breaching trust by having unprotected sex with the girl on three occasions.
Wilkinson, whose partner was pregnant at the time, waited until other residents at the children's home were asleep before having sex with the girl during his nightshift.
He would then set an alarm for 4am so he could send the girl back to her room within the unit in Dundee before his colleague would wake up and discover them together.
Wilkinson was placed on the sex offenders register today and sentence was deferred for social work and restriction of liberty reports by Sheriff Alistair Carmichael.
Wilkinson, from Dundee, admitted engaging in sexual activity with a 16-year-old at the care unit in Dundee on various occasions between 15 August and 8 September 2019. He admitted being in a position of trust when he had sexual intercourse with her.
Fiscal depute Lora Apostolova told Dundee Sheriff Court: "He lives with his partner and she was three months pregnant at the time. He was employed by Dundee City Council as a social care officer.
"The complainer was 16 and was placed in the unit by the council's social care department in 2018. The incidents all occurred within the care unit at night, when residents and the other staff member were sleeping."
The court heard that Wilkinson sexually assaulted the girl on three occasions.
The Fiscal depute also told the court. "He told her not to tell because he would lose his job and not see his children."
The court was told that the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took a photo of Wilkinson sleeping on her shoulder which was later shown to her sister.
Several text messages were received by the girl and Wilkinson admitted he had found her number among the records stored at the home. He sent her a picture of him posing in just a towel.
It was several months later that the girl told her sister that something had been happening between her and the care worker and that led to a formal investigation.
"She said that when the accused was on the night shift she would wait until everyone was asleep. The accused would set the alarm for 4am so she could return to her room before the other carer woke up.
"The accused told her to delete all the messages and to tell them that nothing had happened between them," Miss Apostolova told the court.
Wilkinson denied any wrongdoing and the girl initially told police nothing had happened, but she later described the sexual relationship to social workers.
Even after Wilkinson's DNA was found on the girl's shorts, he continued to deny his involvement, but he was suspended from his job with the local authority.
He told police he was aware of the boundaries between care staff and vulnerable youngsters and denied being aware of the girl having a crush on him.
