A woman is to stand trial accused of extorting more than £12,000 from a series of older men.

Michelle Carnegie, 33, allegedly sexually assaulted one victim then threatened to tell the police lies.

She faces charges spanning the course of more than five years from March 2010 to October last year.

Carnegie is first said to have targeted James Reid, 66, at an address in Forfar, claiming that unless he handed over £1830 she would make false allegations about him to the media, and that she subsequently took the money.

She is then said to have stolen £80 from 63-year-old Charles Pullar, £60 from 76-year-old John Martin and £200 from 67-year-old Ian Catto.

Prosecutors say she sexually assaulted a 69-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and stole £300 from him.

Carnegie is then alleged to have stolen a further £500 from Mr Martin, when he was 77.

She faces another charge of extortion against Mr Pullar, allegedly extorting £9360 from him over the course of five and a half years, having him hand over money under threat of reporting him to police for serious sex assaults he had not committed.

Carnegie is then said to have extorted £300 from Paul Browne and Claire Pudsey by threatening them with violence between August and October last year. She is also said to have assaulted Ms Pudsey twice during that period.

A final charge alleges Carnegie attempted to extort money from Joseph Harrison by threatening to report him to police for a crime he had not committed.

Carnegie, of HMP Cornton Vale, faces a total of 12 charges on indictment at Forfar Sheriff Court.

That includes three charges of extortion, one of attempted extortion, five of theft, one of sexual assault and two of assault.

Sheriff Pino di Emidio set a further pre-trial hearing in the case later this month.

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