A retired vet who drugged and sexually assaulted boys at a Christian summer camp has admitted also drugging his wife so she would not wake up while he was attacking the children.
Jon Ruben, 76, pleaded guilty at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday to drugging his wife Susan in July last year.
Ruben has previously admitted sexually assaulting two boys at a summer camp at Stathern Lodge, in Stathern, Leicestershire, and child cruelty towards six other victims.
Dressed in a blue shirt and beige trousers, he sobbed in the dock during his plea hearing on Wednesday when he admitted administering a poison or noxious substance, Temazapam, to Mrs Ruben, 63, between July 26 and 29 last year so she would not wake up while he sexually assaulted the children.
The retired vet, who ran a holiday camp for at least 27 years, said ‘I’m so sorry’ after entering his guilty plea.
Mary Prior KC, prosecuting, told the court: ‘The drugging was in order to ensure she did not wake up while he drugged and sexually abused the children.
‘The defendant asked for a voluntary interview, and in that interview admitted he had drugged his wife.’
When the new charge was put to him, Ruben sobbed as he replied: ‘Guilty, I am so sorry.’
Mrs Prior added that it was Mrs Ruben’s case that she had been drugged at each of the nights covered by the charge.
Susan and Jon Ruben in a photo on social media. Mrs Ruben was also drugged by her husband
Jon Ruben
Judge Timothy Spencer KC told Ruben: ‘I understand why you were upset at the start of this hearing.
‘I will sentence you on Friday. It will be a very tough day in your life, and a very long one.’
He has already been warned he faces a ‘significant sentence of imprisonment’ when he is sentenced at the same court on Friday.
In November, the twice-married father-of-two pleaded guilty to a string of charges relating to the drugging of children at a summer camp in 2024.
He admitted sexual assault of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, eight counts of child cruelty, three counts of making indecent images of children and four drug charges.
The images included 50 category A videos of children, the most serious.
The court heard he injected crushed sedatives into sweets using a hypodermic syringe, calculating the amount needed to stupefy each child according to their weight.
When the children were in their pyjamas and getting ready for bed, the paedophile challenged them to play a ‘sweet game’ – to eat three chewy sweets as fast as they could.
As they slipped into unconsciousness, he sexually abused those whom he had chosen. By sedating all in the room, he knew the others would not disturb him.
Leicester Crown Court was told that Ruben had been running the camps for more than 25 years and that at previous camps children fell ill as a result of the sweets they had been given – raising fears there could be many more victims.
Leicestershire police said on Wednesday that a ‘public portal’ remains open for anyone with information or any concerns in relation to the investigation.
One of four siblings, Ruben was born to mother Joan Mackover, a GP and homeopath, and a father who was an eminent optician.
His mother died in 1972 aged 50, in a plane crash shortly after take-off from Heathrow, in what came to be known as the Staines air disaster.
In the same year, Ruben qualified from the Royal School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh before completing a PhD in virology.
He started working as a vet, specialising in small-animal medicine, getting married and having two children before divorcing. Ruben ran his own practice in Nottingham, and established a thriving business employing eight vets at four branches.
In 1995, he sold his business and returned to university, where he qualified as an early-years primary school teacher.
Although he later resumed his veterinary work as a locum, his contact with children continued through his youth work at his church and at a Christian charity, The Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund, of which his second wife Susan was a trustee.
The couple, who married in 2001, lived in a £500,000 Victorian barn conversion in the village of Ruddington, Nottinghamshire.
Last night, a friend of Mrs Ruben, who didn’t want to be named, said: “Sue has always told people she didn’t know anything about what Jon was doing, and this confirms it. Because in something like this, you will always get some people who say, ‘Oh, she must have known, how could she not?’
“But she he is a victim of his crimes as well, and has been completely blindsided by it all. She had no idea what he was like. She still hasn’t had an explanation from him about why he did what he did, but she would like one.
“Hopefully Friday will give her a sense of closure. She has a good family and loyal friends that have really supported her throughout all this, and would just like to move on with her life now.
“She is a lovely, lovely woman who doesn’t deserve everything that Jon has brought upon her.”
Ruben was arrested in July last year after a total of eight children were taken to hospital and liquid Xanax was found to have been used on some of the victims.
Several youngsters became ill after playing a so-called ‘sweet game’ and found it difficult to walk, had slurred speech and could not wake up.
Children would often feel unwell the morning after but Ruben would tell them they were ‘overwrought’.
The defendant’s stepson had raised concerns with his partner during the camp after finding baby oil, syringes with white powder in and other items.
The indecent images charges admitted by Ruben related to 50 category A indecent videos of children, 22 Category B videos and seven Category C videos made between August 2023 and June last year.
None of the images concerned relate to children who were at the summer camp.
