A pensioner is to stand trial in December charged with murdering a woman in her own home in Inverness.
Michael Taylor is accused of killing Liz Mackay at the property in Hilton in March this year.
The indictment gives new details of how the 60 year-old was repeatedly punched causing her to fall and lose consciousness, and that Taylor removed her clothes and bit her on the chest.
The 71-year-old is also said to have struck Miss Mackay with “a blunt object or objects”.
Taylor faces a separate theft allegation with a claim he stole groceries, pots, cutlery and keys from the property.
Yesterday he pleaded not guilty to the charges during a short hearing at the High Court in Glasgow, and Judge Lord Beckett set a trial due to begin in Edinburgh in December.
It is expected that the case could last up to 12 days.
Miss Mackay’s body was found on the afternoon of Thursday, March 31, in her kitchen at 5 Kintail Court in Hilton.
The 60-year-old had moved into the area about eight years before – to a home previously occupied by Brian Grant, the killer who was convicted in 2007 of murdering Ilene O’Connor and burying her in the garden.
Police had initially treated Miss Mackay’s death as “unexplained” but the officer leading the inquiry soon after confirmed it was being treated as murder.
A huge police investigation was launched in the days after her body was discovered, with specialist officers being drafted in from all over Scotland to work on the case.
Officers carried out door-to-door inquiries in Hilton after the grim discovery.
The mother-of-one has been described as “a very private woman, a bit of a loner” but as someone “who wouldn’t hurt a fly”.
It is understood that she had had little contact with her family for several years leading up to her death.
Taylor first appeared in Inverness Sheriff Court charged with murder on April 7.
He appeared for a second time in private eight days later and was committed for trial after making no plea or deceleration and was remanded in custody.
