TWO bank workers sexually abused a one-year-old girl over an 18 month period after embarking on an office affair.

David Harper, 36, began a relationship with married Jennifer Maguire before abusing the child, who would have been one or two years old at the time. The pair admitted sexual assault on a child at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

The court heard Haper began encouraging Maguire, 31, to take photos and footage of herself sexually assaulting the child before sending them to him.

The pair had met in 2012 while working as customer service employees at the Bank of Scotland in Uddingston, Lanarkshire. The court heard they would have sex in the office when other colleagues were not there.

Their crimes were uncovered by the bank after an internal investigation into claims Harper had been harassing another employee found emails between them.

Harper, of Uddingston, also admitted making indecent photographs of children and making threats to another woman that he would publish intimate photographs of her.

Maguire, of Blantyre, also admitted a charge of distributing or showing indecent photographs.

Fiscal depute Natalie Henderson told the court: "Jennifer Maguire committed the sexual acts and recorded them and sent them to David Harper. Harper accepts that he invited her to do this and she agreed.

"She took and sent the images because David Harper had threatened to put naked images of her on the internet."

The bank contacted police after confronting Maguire over the suspicious emails.

Officers also went to Harper's home and confiscated his laptop where they found 9,870 indecent images of children, mostly between four and 14 years of age. Child abuse videos were also found.

Sheriff Daniel Kelly QC deferred sentence on Harper and Maguire until next month and they were both remanded in custody. They were both placed on the sex offenders register.