A group of men accused of abusing pupils at a school run by the Christian Brothers have made their first appearance in court.

John Farrell, 72, Paul Kelly, 62, Edward Egan, 77, Michael Murphy, 75, and William Don, 61, appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

They are accused of physically and sexually abusing boys at the former St Ninian's School in Falkland, Fife, between 1970 and 1983.

The 23-page indictment lists 131 charges involving more than 40 alleged victims.

The five men each pleaded not guilty to all the allegations.

The Catholic school was run the Christian Brothers organisation until St Ninian's closed in the 1980s.

Prosecutors allege a number of sexual attacks took place against pupils there.

Among others claims is an accusation that Kelly left a young boy rolled up in a rug overnight.

He is also said to have hung another pupil upside down from a bridge.

Farrell faces another charge that in the early 1980s, he indecently assaulted a boy at a monastery on the isle of Iona.

He is further said to have attacked the same alleged victim at a Catholic church in Motherwell in 1999.

It is expected a trial could last up to ten weeks. Judge Lord Turnbull adjourned the case until a further hearing in July.