A man is accused of physically and sexually abusing a number of children, including locking one in a coffin.
Brian McKernan, 64, faced the allegations during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.
The charges span between 1973 and 1980 at addresses in Edinburgh, including in the capital's Wester Hailes.
One allegation claims McKernan did force a teenage girl into a van and hit her on the head and body.
It further states he did then “lock her in a coffin” and “detain her there against her will”.
A separate charge alleges he helped assault another girl “with intent to procure the miscarriage” of a child she was carrying.
The same girl is also said to have had her hands burnt on a fire, hit with a whip and her head held under a basin of water.
McKernan further faces charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour towards children.
Frances Forsyth, 79, joined him in the dock for the hearing.
She is accused of neglecting children and that she knew McKernan was harming them.
It is claimed Forsyth did “instruct” him to “assault them”.
She is accused of making youngsters eat dog food and made one boy live outside in a tent.
The pair deny the charges.
Judge Johanna Johnston QC set a trial due to begin in September.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here