A man is to stand trial accused of a catalogue of child abuse including forcing a nine-year-old boy to harvest whelks in the sea by holding his head under the water when he could not swim.
John Higgins faces six charges of abuse on four children over nearly 30 years at addresses in Aberdeen, Dundee, Perthshire and Angus.
It is alleged Higgins 60, of Glenogil Terrace, Forfar, targeted his first victim from the age of just five months with physical abuse.
A second victim is said to have been attacked from the age of six.
She was allegedly grabbed by the throat, slapped, kicked and hit with a belt.
Prosecutors say the third victim was attacked from the age of two.
A further charge alleges attacks in 2005 on a 10-year-old girl.
Higgins is also accused of repeated violent attacks on his then wife, Annie Higgins, between December 2 1975 and November 9 2004.
The case was continued to a jury trial assize later this month.
