A retired vet has admitted sexually assaulting two boys at a Christian summer camp where children fell ill after being given sweets laced with sedatives.
Jon Ruben, 76, was previously accused of child neglect offences against three boys, who cannot be identified.
But the married father-of-two faced a raft of fresh charges when he appeared before a judge at Leicester Crown Court this afternoon – including seven child sex offences.
Ruben admitted one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration but denied a second count against a different child.
He admitted an alternative count of sexual assault in relation to that other child.
Ruben has also admitted eight counts of child cruelty, three counts of making indecent images of children and four drugs charges.
Judge Timothy Spencer KC said the sweets had been ‘laced with tranquilising drugs’.
The judge invited prosecutor Mary Prior KC to briefly outline the facts of the case after the incident at Stathern Lodge – a rented residential facility in Leicestershire – this summer.
Jon Ruben appeared at Leicester Crown Court this afternoon to admit a raft of charges
Mrs Prior said Ruben had ‘for at least 27 years’ run the holiday camp, and ‘selected’ children to attend from church classes and youth groups he was involved in.
She told how there had been a ‘long history of children feeling sick at the camp over many years’ and added: ‘At Stathern Lodge, the defendant was in charge. He made the rules.’
She added: ‘For many years he has played what he calls a sweet game with the children in which he goes into the bedrooms where the children are in their pyjamas.
‘The game is that each has to each three really sticky sweets as quickly as they can, but they must chew them.
‘When that has been played, the children have always fallen ill the next morning.’
She said Ruben always explained it as them being ‘overwrought by enjoyment or a change of food.’
As the details were outlined, bearded Ruben smiled in the dock.
An aerial view of Stathern Lodge, which was hosting children on a summer camp when a number fell ill
The court heard that police were called in after Ruben’s stepson had concerns and together, with his partner, looked in Ruben’s belongings – discovering sex toys, syringes, white powder, Vaseline and baby oil.
The court heard they notified police about their concerns, but officers did not initially attend.
Mrs Prior said that it was only when the stepson made two further calls to Leicestershire Police – after boys were sick or struggling to wake up, that officers went to the lodge.
Mrs Prior said that after the first call to police, Ruben played the sweet game with the children that night.
The court heard the next morning, his victims found it difficult to wake up or walk, and some had slurred speech.
‘When (Ruben’s) stepson saw them on that Sunday morning, that caused him to think ‘this is something’, and alert the police again’, the prosecutor said.
That night, Ruben played the game again with children in a room close to his sleeping quarters.
Mrs Prior said: ‘Whether the dose was higher or their resistance was higher, the following morning they were all very unwell and some were vomiting.
‘Some couldn’t be roused at all. Police were called again, and they came out.’
The court heard by the time officers arrived, Ruben had gone to a pub for lunch with the children – and drugs and sweets that appeared to have been injected with something were found in his possessions.
Mrs Prior said that one of the boys who had been targeted by Ruben was too ill to go for lunch at the pub and stayed behind at the lodge.
She said he was so ill he fell unconscious and an ambulance was called.
The decision was then made to set up the triage centre, which all the children were taken to.
The prosecutor told the hearing that a number of boys had their blood and urine tested, with the results showing they had ingested liquid Xanax – a depressant used to treat anxiety.
Asked by Judge Spencer if the boys had been given ‘sweets laced with tranquiliser drugs’, Mrs Prior replied: ‘They were.’
She added: ‘It took some work. The drugs have been crushed up sufficiently finely to go through a needle.
‘He got sweets with wrappers on, had injected a drug into them.
‘Each child has been given three injected sweets. ‘The purpose of drugging them was to sexually abuse the ones he picked, and to make sure the others were asleep and couldn’t witness it.
‘It was happening in the children’s bedroom at night.’
Mrs Prior said the drugging of the boys could have led to damage to their hearts – and in the ‘worst case scenario, death’.
She told the court: ‘We know the defendant researched, because he used to be a vet, how much drug you need for a particular weight, with the weight being a child.
‘This was planned methodically and committed carefully over that weekend, and as far as drugging is concerned, many weekends before, when in a position of trust.’
The prosecutor added that Ruben’s devices were examined after his arrest, and found to contain more than 50 category A indecent videos of children – the most serious – as well as a number in categories B and C.
Ruben was remanded in custody until November 28, when prosecutors will decide whether they will pursue a trial against Ruben on the charge he denies.
Ruben was initially charged with three child cruelty offences after eight boys and an adult were taken to hospital having become ill on the camp.
Ruben was arrested in the car park of The Anchor Inn at Plungar, a few miles from the camp at Stathern Lodge, a residential facility outside the village of Stathern, Leicestershire.
The group was among a party of more than 40 people attending the camp which was run by the Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund (SCHF) charity, which provides school clubs and subsidised holidays for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
None of the victims can be identified.
Ten ambulances, four paramedic cars and the air ambulance were sent to Stathern, near Melton Mowbray, after a ‘third party’ reported a ‘medical emergency’ at the summer camp.
Ruben, from Ruddington, Nottingham, is a veterinary surgeon, according to Companies House, with a business he owned being dissolved in August last year.
He is also a former trustee of SCHF.
Stathern Lodge is owned by the Braithwaite Gospel Trust, a charity which provides ‘facilities to groups who have the primary aims of advancing education, advancing the Christian religion and giving help to the less well off’.
Police have said the ‘owners and operators of Stathern Lodge are independent from those people who use or hire the lodge and are not connected to the incident’.
The lodge is a converted farmhouse with a sports hall and catering facilities.
Leicestershire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over its handling of the incident.
Following today’s hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Neil Holden, of Leicestershire Police, said: ‘This has been a horrific, complex and emotional investigation involving multiple young, innocent, vulnerable victims and a man who committed the vilest crimes.
‘Our focus today must of course remain on the young victims and with the support of partners and dedicated Family Liaison Officers, we have and continue to support their welfare and to ensure their safeguarding going forward.
‘I know the investigation at the time and these guilty pleas today has and will understandably cause concern within communities.
Please know that we are here for you and to speak with you.’he force said in a statement: ‘
