A PENSIONER has been charged with alleged cruelty and violence against numerous vulnerable children at Quarrier's Village during a period of time spanning four decades.

Anne Whitty, 71, is accused of targeting boys and girls between the ages of four and 17 years at a cottage on the village's Peace Avenue between 1974 and 2007.

Among a total of 15 indictment charges against her, Whitty is said to have stamped on one young girl when the child was aged between four and seven in the 1970s.

Prosecutors say she also deprived the girl of breakfast, beat her if she failed to hang up her clothes to Whitty's satisfaction and brushed her hair with such force that her head bled.

Whitty is accused of repeatedly punching the girl on the head, repeatedly kicking her, striking her head on a metal locker, causing her to sit in cold baths as a punishment and placing her in such a state of fear and alarm that she wet herself.

Sixteen alleged victims have been named in the catalogue of charges against Whitty, who appeared at Greenock Sheriff Court to plead not guilty.

The court heard that a 'voluminous amount' of documentation relating to the case from 'external agencies' is currently awaited.

Prosecutor Laura Wilcox said: "There is an abundance of disclosure which requires to be redacted [before being passed to Whitty's lawyers]."

Whitty is accused of causing another girl to spit uneaten chewed meat into a bowl and repeatedly re-serve it to her at other meal times when the alleged victim was aged between three and eight.

The Crown says she repeatedly submerged a boy in baths of cold water and repeatedly struck him on the body with a sock that contained oranges or similar items.

She said to have, when the boy was aged between eight and 17, locked him in a room by himself, denied him food and caused him to kneel on a piece of cardboard for prolonged periods as a punishment.

Between August 1981 and March 1988, Whitty is accused of repeatedly shutting his fingers between a door, spitting in his mouth and on his face, stamping and jumping on him repeatedly striking him on the head with a hammer, baton or similar item.

Whitty is further accused of causing the boy to sleep in a shed or outhouse at night, forcing food into his mouth and coerce him into eating his own vomit at meal times.

The Crown alleges that, apart from those children named in the charged, there are other victims whose identities are meantime unknown.

It is alleged that on various occasions between 1974 and 2007 that Whitty, whilst acting along with another person, took hold of the heads of these unknown children and struck them against lockers, slapped them and shook them.

Regarding other named alleged victims, Whitty is said to have refused one contact with his father and failed to obtain medical attention for him.

She is accused of forcing food into a girl's mouth after allegedly seizing her by the hair and pulling her head back. Whitty is also said to have witnessed and countenanced the girl being sexually touched in her presence.

She is accused of compelled another girl, who was aged between five and seven, to defecate into a potty in front of other residents and also caused her to stand barefoot in a porch for prolonged periods at night.

The majority of the alleged offences are said to have occurred at Cottage 42 at Quarriers.

Quarriers was established in 1871 by Greenock man William Quarrier for destitute, orphaned or abandoned children.

Whitty, of Erskine, denies all of the charges against her.

The case is due to call in court again on September 6.

Fiscal depute Miss Wilcox said: "It is some time away but this will provide ample time for information to provided and reviewed."