A teenager charged with armed robbery has been accused of turning on a family who took him in "as a son".

Gary Ralston, 19, allegedly carried out a masked raid on the Bowmaker family home in Stirlingshire in December last year.

Marion Bowmaker told a court she allowed Ralston, then 16, to move in with her family in 2014 to shield him from media attention after he was seduced by his 35-year-old history teacher.

Ralston is said to have been one of two armed men who entered the home, masked in balaclavas and armed with a pick axe, a knife and a baseball bat.

They are accused of robbing Ms Bowmaker, her son Ben and his girlfriend of mobile phones, £20 and a PlayStation.

Ms Bowmaker, 49, said she could not believe it when Ben, also 19, told her one of the masked men was Ralston.

She said Ralston lived with her for three months "a couple of years ago".

Ms Bowmaker added: "I took him in as a son."

Ralston's advocate Drew McKenzie said: "You took him in because he was subject to a sexual assault by a teacher?"

Ms Bowmaker replied: "That's correct."

The advocate added: "He was at school and this 35-year-old woman who was a teacher seduced him and she was subsequently prosecuted and suspended, and he was subject to publicity."

Ms Bowmaker said she had taken Ralston in "so he could have a degree of privacy".

Mr McKenzie asked her why she had not said to him during the raid 'I know it's you, what are you playing at you daftie?' and told him to get out of the house.

She replied: "Because when two people walk in with balaclavas and weapons in their hands you just think your life's going to end."

Ms Bowmaker told the High Court in Stirling that during the incident the taller of the two raiders had called the smaller of the two, who she now says was Ralston, "Gary".

She said at that point she, her son, and both raiders were in her son's bedroom and the smaller man swung a baseball bat and knocked out the light.

Ms Bowmaker said: "I think it was intentional, because Ben had recognised him."

She described the incident as "distressing and horrific" and was in disbelief when he son told her, "that was Gary, wee Gary Ralston, mum, he came and lived with us".

Ms Bowmaker said she had thought: "How can he do that to me, how can he repay us by coming in to rob us with weapons and terrify us?"

Mr Bowmaker said he was in his bedroom at home in Cowie, Stirlingshire, with his girlfriend watching TV about 9pm to 10pm on December 11, 2015, when a something like a stone hit his window.

His mother went downstairs and then he heard her "screaming".

Mr Bowmaker, an Asda worker, said he jumped up but only got as far as his bedroom door when he saw someone coming up the stairs with a balaclava on.

His girlfriend ran into his elder brother's room and he closed his door.

He said: "The next thing I felt someone push against it and I heard someone shouting, 'where's the f*****g money'."

Mr Bowmaker, who said he did not owe any money, said he shouted back, "I don't know what you're talking about" before a "knife-object", which he later described as a machete, swung in through the gap in the door and nearly hit his fingers.

He said one of men started asking him about the whereabouts of a friend of his from when he was at primary school, John Yuille, and at this point he heard his mother shouting "just let them in".

He stood back from his door and the two masked men came in. He said the smaller of the two was wearing a hat pulled over his head with eye holes cut into it, while the taller man had on a proper balaclava.

Mr Bowmaker said: "When I looked at the little guy I sort of knew who it was straight away... one of my old friends, Gary Ralston."

He said the raiders took the phones, money, and his new PlayStation, saying the items could go towards the money they wanted.

Ralston, of Sauchenford, near Plean, Stirling, denies committing armed robbery while acting with another male.

The trial, before judge Lord Ericht, continues on Thursday.