Jon Ruben, 76, admitted drugging children with laced sweets as well as his wife to ensure she wouldn’t wake up during his crimes
All was not as it seemed at a wholesome summer camp which was supposed to be an opportunity for underprivileged children to have some summer fun. Instead, boys were fed laced sweets and poisoned so that the man running the camp could sexually abuse them.
Jon Ruben, 76, from Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, was believed by those around him to be a stand up member of the community, and had been running a holiday camp for kids for 27 years.
But Leicester Crown Court heard how he had been playing a sick game with the children in his care “for many years”. Whilst they were getting ready for bed, he challenged them to eat the sweets which had been laced with tranquilising drugs as “as quickly as they can”.
He used his “cloak of Christianity” to poison the boys in order to sexually abuse them. Prosecutors said the sick retired vet had “honed” his poisoning skill “over many years” and that his horrifying abuse was “premeditated and planned”, reports the Mirror.
Today, Ruben was sentenced for his crimes. In his sentencing remarks, the Judge said Ruben had posed a “life-threatening risk” to the young boys when he poisoned them with sedatives to “gain sexual arousal, initially from their naked bodies, and also in order to sexually assault at least some of those boys”.
Ruben was sentenced to 23 years and 10 months for his crimes at the summer camps. Some families of the child victims gave heartbreaking impact statements about the devastation caused by the pensioner’s reign of terror – others were so “distraught” at the sickening detail in the sentencing hearing they had to leave the room.
Ruben’s crimes were exposed last year when emergency services were called to Stathern Lodge, a youth centre near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. He had been running a summer camp there when eight children – aged between eight and 11 years old – and one adult had become unwell.
They had reported feeling “drowsy and sick” and all of them were taken to hospital. One boy was found “slumped over the dining room table” at the lodge, the court heard.
The youngster explaining he had won the “sweet game” but was so disoriented he had to hold on to the wall to stay upright. He later tested positive for liquid Xanax.
One mother told the court in a victim impact statement that “The scene at the hall was like chaos – it was like a Die Hard movie. This was all caused by the selfish actions of one man.”
She added that her son now struggles to be left alone at night, because he is too afraid.
Another parent described the “nightmare” experience. They said: “The kids were kept from us initially, but we could hear them screaming to us that Jon had been arrested, and we also learned he drugged the children with sweets. We didn’t know what to think – the whole experience was so frightening. The following weeks and months were a nightmare.”
The court heard that the day after being poisoned the boys were “tired and floppy and seeming to be drunk” and that searches found a “chocolate poisoning chart” that the prosecutor said Ruben used to determine how much sedation to give the boys.
June Grant, 83, a former bookings secretary at the hall, previously said: “There were so many sirens. You could hear the ambulances and police cars whizzing around the village. It was scary but such good news that the children are OK.”
Ruben was arrested at a nearby pub where he was found by police accompanied by some of the kids. Toxicology reports found liquid Xanax present in samples from children at the camp, as well as within sweets which had been provided to the children. Incisions marks were also seen on the sweets themselves.
Ruben’s stepson was the one who initially became suspicious of the pensioner. He told his partner about his concerns before taking matters into his own hands and searching Ruben’s belongings.
That was where he found Vaseline, syringes and baby oil and quickly called the police.
After his crimes were uncovered, indecent material was found on his devices. 50 Category A – the most serious kind – indecent videos of children were discovered, alongside 22 Category B videos, and seven Category C videos.
At Leicester Crown Court, the pensioner pleaded guilty to 18 charges. They included one count of sexual assault of a child under 13 and another of assault of a child under 13 by penetration.
The paedophile also pleaded guilty to drugging his own wife, Susan. He admitted to the police that he administered the drugs to her so she would stay asleep whilst he sexually assaulted children at the summer camp.
Prosecutor Mary Prior KC said at the sentencing hearing: “In order to allow for his wife Susan, who was a light sleeper, to ensure she didn’t notice his absence in the night. He put sedatives in her tea.
“She reported feeling groggy with a bitter, metallic taste when she woke up. The purpose of the sedation was to ensure all of the boys were heavily asleep so the defendant could undress them, and choose who to sexually abuse.”
Susan spoke at the sentencing hearing, telling the court that her “life has been turned upside down,” and that, “I have now found out I have no idea who Jon Ruben is.”
She also told the court that the sick pensioner had told police issues with their sex life had contributed to his evil offences and that he believes himself to be “untouchable”. Susan lamented that the summer camp which was supposed to bring “moments of happiness” to underprivileged youngsters had been used by Jon to perpetuate the “most awful crimes”.
Susan said: “He painted himself as a Christian man and a pillar of the community. He is in fact a sadistic, monstrous paedophile.”
Ruben pulled the wool over people’s eyes for many years and, in 2015, was nominated for a community award for his work with young people. However, the court heard that a journal was found that indicated he had sick fantasies for a long time.
At the sentencing hearing, the court heard that he had targeted “vulnerable” boys “due to their underprivileged background”. The prosecutor also told the court: “The deprivation from many for these families was more than financial. Many were struggling to keep down jobs and relied on the church for afterschool clubs.”
The woman who nominated him for the Supporting Young People gong was quoted in a local newspaper singing his praises, and saying Ruben went above and beyond to give children a “great start in life” and that kids loved him – comments that now take on a whole new meaning.
“I used to volunteer with Jon and he works so hard for the benefit of so many young people. He wants young people to have a great start in life and he is such a lovely man too. He makes a genuine difference,” the woman was quoted as saying.
“Children find him funny and have a fun time with him, but they respect him too. He works tirelessly.”
Ruben’s responded to the nomination by saying: “I am shocked and pleased at the same time – I genuinely did not see this coming. We just like to give children good things to do.”
One boy, the court heard in a victim impact statement given by his father, was so shocked by Ruben’s abuse he asked if the youth worker had been “set up” and that the child had been inspired to be a youth worker himself by Ruben. “My boy is very confused about what has happened and struggling to process that Jon Ruben isn’t the person he thought he was,” the father said, “He was promised he would be a youth leader, and he was so excited he had been acknowledged by [Ruben]. Our family changed forever from that moment on.”
The father said after the pensioner’s arrest his son asked “What if somebody set him up and put the sweets in his bag? How could he do things like that – he is a man of God?”
The court heard a parent say in an impact statement that their son had begun self-harming and had become a shell of himself since the assault. “[My son] shut down and started self-harming, pulling and twisting his hair out,” a mother told the hearing. “[He] was previously a confident, independent boy who now needs constant distraction and reassurance, and has got to the point where he doesn’t leave our sides.
“When (my son) is at home, but in a room on his own, he barricades himself in to feel safe when we are out. He has lost his innocence. He doesn’t trust anyone and this affects every part of his daily life.”
Ruben apologised repeatedly after the victim impact statements were read out, holding his head in his hands as they spoke and sobbing.
Thomas Schofield KC acting for Ruben told the court the pensioner is the “epitome of remorse” rejecting that he had used his Christianity as a cover. Schofield also told the hearing that Ruben had been abused as a child and that “He embraces the need for punishment. He described himself to me as a monster and evil.” The barrister also told the court that Ruben has a personality disorder, autistic spectrum disorder, or ADHD or a “combination of all of them”.
In his sentencing remarks Judge Timothy Spencer KC said that Ruben had used Christianity to “get close to boys” and “exploited” his status as youth worker and community figure, adding he “grossly betrayed the trust that came with it.”
The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, Paul Williams, said previously about the case: ” I am profoundly shocked by the terrible abuse of children admitted by Jon Ruben. First and foremost, our thoughts are with the children and families affected by these appalling crimes. The abuse of trust and harm to the vulnerable is horrific in any setting, but it is especially shocking when it happens in a context that should have been safe and nurturing.
“Jon Ruben was a member of the PCC at St Peter’s Ruddington and also a volunteer working with young people in the church. Safeguarding of children and young people are our highest priority across all our churches.”
