A mum from Renfrewshire who claims she was beaten and abused at an orphanage has launched a £750,000 legal action bid against the Catholic order.

Annemarie McGuigan said she was beaten with a stick and locked in cupboards during her five-year stay at the Nazareth House children's home in Aberdeen.

The 59-year-old was 'force-fed' her own vomit and is now taking legal action against the Sisters of Nazareth.

Sisters Alphonso and Hildegard have now been exposed in criminal courts and the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) for their parts in the sickening attacks on children in the 1960s-70s.

READ MORE: Judge says victims told truth about 'depraved' child abuse at Scotland's Nazareth Houses

She said: “We cannot let the Sisters of Nazareth simply say ‘Sorry’ to the SCAI and walk away.

“They have to help victims repair their lives and they have to be seen to do it – otherwise none of us can ever truly get justice.”

Ms McGuigan stayed at the home between 1969 and 1974 with her brother and sister, and has since battled suicide attempts, depression and is too scared to go outside.

During her stay at the home, she was 'force-fed stovies' at each mealtime over three days.

“They knew I hated that food and couldn’t eat it - it’s like they enjoyed my suffering," she explained.

“At the end of the third day when I still couldn’t eat the stovies, my arms and legs were pinned down by two members of staff and Sister Hildegard shovelled forkfuls of it into my mouth.

“It made me sick and everything that came up landed on the plate because of the way I was held.

“Sr Hildegard then shoved more forkfuls in and it only stopped after I ate everything - even the vomit.”

Ms McGuigan was also locked in a cupboard for 12 hours after failing to polish shoes correctly and was only let out when her sister passed by and heard her cries.

On another occasion, she said was forced to stand on a table all night with a bar of soap in her mouth for saying the word “bloody”.

When not dressed 'properly' for lessons, she claims Sisters Alphonso and Hildegard beat her with their fists or with a wooden stick.

“It was horrific," she admitted. “We were small and had little experience of the world but we all knew this wasn’t right.

“But what could we do? These were nuns – the very people the entire world believed would care for us.

“Yet we were tortured, ridiculed and isolated – and it was all by nuns. “Smiling, evil nuns.

READ MORE: Nun admits children were abused by stretched staff

She added: “They ruined my life and the lives of so many others. The Sisters of Nazareth cannot get away with this."

Kim Leslie, a specialist abuse lawyer at Digby Brown Solicitors, is now leading a personal injury legal action for survivors of Sisters of Nazareth House.

She said: “I cannot praise Annemarie enough for taking the selfless decision to share her story and inspire others.

“Even if dozens of people are subjected to the same abuse the lifelong impacts can be entirely different because each survivor is different.

“My team is now raising multiple court actions against the Sisters of Nazareth to help survivors gain access to justice.

“The passage of time does not dilute the suffering of victims, nor does it dilute our resolve to redress the past – our track record proves this and perpetrators of abuse will do well to remember it.”