Jon Ruben, the 77-year-old former summer camp trustee jailed for abusing boys at Stathern Lodge Christian camp, is set to challenge his sentence at the Court of Appeal on October 23.
Ruben was sentenced in February to 23 years and 10 months in prison, with an extended licence period of eight years, after admitting 17 charges. The appeal comes despite his barrister previously telling Leicester Crown Court that Ruben expected to die in prison.
Crimes at Stathern Lodge
The offences took place in late July 2025, when more than 40 children were staying at the camp near Melton. Over two nights, Ruben gave boys sweets injected with sedatives before sexually assaulting two of them on the second night, the court heard.
Another adult found syringes, vials and drugs in his room and called police. Ruben was arrested while eight of the boys were taken to hospital.
Ruben had run summer camps for socially deprived children as a trustee of the Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund for 27 years. He also sat on the parochial church council at St Peter’s Church in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire. The court heard he selected children for the camps from youth clubs, Sunday schools and evening classes.
Prosecution details
Prosecutor Mary Prior KC told Ruben’s sentencing hearing on February 6 that he always made sure young boys were placed in the two rooms nearest to him. He targeted each room separately over two nights in what he called a “sweet game”, giving the boys three sweets injected with sedatives and telling them the first to finish all three would win a bar of chocolate.
She said he used a syringe and his knowledge as a veterinary surgeon to calculate doses, and that the drug he ordered from the dark web as Temazepam was in fact an unlicensed substance known as “liquid Xanax”. The boys in the targeted rooms woke up feeling ill and drowsy, and on the second morning, one failed to wake up and was left to sleep while the others went out for lunch.
Mrs Prior said there was no evidence Ruben sexually assaulted anyone on the first night, Saturday, July 26, but that this was his intention.
Guilty pleas and impact
Ruben pleaded guilty at Leicester Crown Court in November to 17 offences, including sexual assault of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, eight charges of cruelty to persons under 16, three charges of making indecent photographs of children, and drug offences including illegally acquiring Temazepam. He also admitted drugging his wife Susan so she would not wake while the abuse took place.
Mrs Prior said: “He used his cloak of Christianity to poison boys aged eight to 11 in order to sexually abuse them.”
Thomas Schofield KC, representing Ruben, told the sentencing hearing that his client had saved the children from having to give evidence at a trial by admitting his crimes. He said Ruben had described himself as “evil” and as a “monster”, and that he expected to die in prison.
