Summer camp sex offender jailed for 23 years
48 minutes agoTom OakleyandWill Jefford,East Midlands
Leicestershire PoliceA “monstrous” summer camp leader who laced sweets with tranquilliser and gave them to boys before sexually assaulting them has been jailed for more than 23 years.
Jon Ruben was arrested after eight children and one adult fell ill at Stathern Lodge in Stathern, Leicestershire, in July last year.
The 76-year-old also drugged his wife Susan to ensure she would not wake up while the abuse took place. Susan labelled her husband of 24 years a “sadistic, monstrous paedophile”, adding she commenced divorce proceedings after his arrest.
A number of upset and angry parents of the victims also gave emotional testimony, with some swearing at Ruben as he was sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on Friday.
The court heard Ruben – who had run a holiday camp for children for at least 27 years – had played a game where he would go into boys’ rooms when they were getting ready for bed before asking them to eat sweets “as quickly as they can”.
Ruben, from Ruddington in Nottinghamshire, had honed his skill of poisoning “over many years” and carefully chose his victims, who were described as being “ordinarily young, small and white”, the court heard.
Prosecutor Mary Prior KC said the camp leader drugged his wife, Susan, by putting sedatives in her tea so she did not wake up while he was sexually abusing the boys.
During a witness statement read out to the court, Susan said: “He spent decades trying to paint a picture that he was a righteous, honourable man, when he was actually a sadistic, monstrous paedophile.”
Leicestershire PoliceRuben’s stepson raised concerns with his partner during the camp after finding baby oil, Vaseline and syringes.
Prior added: “Over many years he was a trusted leader of the community and abused his status and position of trust to derive sexual pleasure from young boys.
“Using the knowledge he gained as a veterinary surgeon, the defendant refined the use of sedatives to facilitate sexual offending on children, and vulnerable children at that.”
NEMMSome of the boys had fallen ill after playing the game and were seen the next morning “walking into walls and in the wrong direction”, the court heard.
The game involved the children chewing and swallowing three sweets that they unwrapped in advance, with the quickest eating all three winning a prize of a chocolate bar the next morning.
Ruben, of Wayte Court in Ruddington, attempted to interrupt the sentencing hearing by shouting “no” after the court was told by the prosecution he had breached his own safeguarding rules.
He was regularly seen sobbing in the dock with his head in his hands throughout the day.
Mothers of the boys who were abused by Ruben also delivered victim impact statements, including one mother who said their child had started self-harming following the abuse.
Another spoke directly to the defendant, and said: “You’ve ruined the lives of these children. You could have killed a child. I want you to suffer every day.”
Leicestershire PoliceDefending, Thomas Schofield KC told the court Ruben was sexually abused himself as a child, adding that “traumas can have an effect by preventing an individual from recognising further risk”.
He told the judge that the defendant was “the epitome of remorseful”.
In November, Ruben pleaded guilty to 17 offences including sexual assault of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and eight counts of child cruelty.
He later admitted administering a poison or noxious substance – temazepam – to Susan Ruben in July last year so she would not wake up while he sexually assaulted the children.
Devices belonging to Ruben were later analysed by officers and found to contain more than 50 Category A indecent videos of children, the most serious category.
There were also Category B and C videos. None of the images concerned relate to children who were at the summer camp.
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