More than £1 million has been confiscated from two brothel keepers for a series of offences carried out over a decade.

Margaret Paterson and Robert Munro were among five people who were ordered to pay back almost £1.5 million in separate cases at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

Paterson, 62, and Munro, 63, had been on trial for brothel-keeping, money laundering and living on the earnings of prostitution between 2001 and 2011. They were sentenced to five years' imprisonment in July 2013 but faced confiscation hearings today.

The Crown Office said Paterson was made subject of confiscation orders totalling £1,000,000 while Munro was told to pay back £96,836.

Paterson had been convicted of laundering £700,000, and a further £544,000 while acting along with Munro.

They laundered almost £595,000 of the proceeds of their crimes by using it to purchase luxury goods and services, and the remainder through the company bank account and the possession of illegally-obtained cash.

The money confiscated today will be made available to the Scottish Government's CashBack programme, which reinvests criminal proceeds into a range of sporting, cultural and educational activities for young people.

Other confiscation orders were made today against money launderer Michael Voudouri and drug dealers Peter Walters and Alan Gardner.

Voudouri was made subject of a confiscation order for £207,339, after pleading guilty in October 2012 to laundering a total of £11.6 million through foreign and domestic banks, company accounts and individuals between 2001 and 2004.

After his plea, he failed to appear for sentencing and fled to Cyprus. He was extradited last year and sentenced to a total of 11 years and six months for both the money laundering and for failing to appear for sentence.

The Crown Office said today's order represents the entirety of his available assets, but it can be amended if he comes into further assets in the future.

Walters, who is originally from Liverpool, was given a confiscation order for £135,829 over drug dealing while Gardner will be forced to pay £35,454 after he pleaded guilty to involvement in the supply of heroin.

Speaking after the conclusion of the cases, Lindsey Miller, Procurator Fiscal for Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism, said: "Today we have removed a vast amount of criminal earnings from organised crime groups operating right across Scotland.

"These cases show the tenacity of law enforcement and prosecutors in pursuing the thing that is most important to criminals - their money.

"Criminals now find themselves not only facing lengthy prison sentences, but they are also subjected to extensive financial investigations by our specialist team of forensic accountants.

"They find that criminal earnings they thought long safe are uncovered, and whenever they cannot be accounted for we will seek to confiscate them and make them all available for use in community projects across Scotland."