Summer camp abuser has sentence appeal rejected

A summer camp leader who fed boys tranquiliser-laced sweets before sexually assaulting them has lost an appeal to reduce the length of his prison sentence.

Jon Ruben, 77, was jailed for 23 years and 10 months in February after his abuse came to light when a number of children became unwell at a camp he was running in Stathern in Leicestershire in July 2025.

On Friday, a panel of judges at the Court of Appeal rejected Ruben's bid to reduce his sentence but corrected an element of how it was constructed.

The judges dismissed that the overall sentence was too long and rejected that Ruben's sentencing judge had not properly considered his "remorse".

Leicester Crown Court previously heard Ruben had played a "sweet game", in which he would go into boys' rooms when they were getting ready for bed and invite them to eat sweets laced with drugs "as quickly as they can".

Ruben, from Ruddington in Nottinghamshire, was arrested after eight children and one adult fell ill at Stathern Lodge last July.

Police were called to the camp by Ruben's stepson, who discovered baby oil, Vaseline and syringes, and Ruben was subsequently detained at a nearby pub.

Ruben pleaded guilty to 17 offences, including the sexual assault of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and eight counts of child cruelty.

He later admitted he had drugged his wife, Susan, to ensure she would not wake up while he carried out the abuse.

At his sentencing, Ruben told he would serve a further period on licence, bringing his total sentence to 31 years and 10 months.

On Friday, Ruben's overall sentence was altered so the sentences for all of his offences would run concurrently with one count, count four - assault by penetration. However, the sentence for count four was increased so that the overall custodial period was unchanged.

Ruben appeared in court via a video-link from HMP Wakefield.

The panel of judges - Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, Mr Justice Swift and Mr Justice Kimblin - dismissed three other grounds of Ruben's appeal, including that the overall sentence was too long and that one of his offences was miscategorised by the sentencing judge in February.

In his submissions to the panel Thomas Schofield KC, representing Ruben, said he had "demonstrable remorse" which had not been properly considered by the sentencing judge, who he said "expressed scepticism on the genuineness of the remorse".

Schofield added: "This is a matter of sentencing technique - we were very lucky to have an experienced judge to deal with it but in my respectful submission, some errors were made."

He said there had been "double counting" when calculating the sentence, and added the judge had not considered Ruben's admission to a psychiatrist that he had been abused as a child.

Prosecution counsel Mary Prior KC said at earlier court hearings Ruben had been "smiling rather serenely", and that it was not until his sentencing that any signs of remorse were shown.

She added there was "very significant planning" in Ruben's offending, in the way he used his former veterinary skills to calculate how to drug the boys, injecting the sweets and having them stay in rooms separate to others at Stathern Lodge.

Following Ruben's arrest devices that belonged to him, which were later analysed by officers, were 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.

Handing down the panel's judgement, Swift said: "The appellant's offending was by any measure extremely serious and entirely shocking."

He added when sentencing child cruelty offences, the total was "neither disproportionate nor excessive".

Swift added the panel saw "no reason to second guess" the allowance the sentencing judge had made due to Ruben's age.

The police investigation into Ruben remains ongoing and a public portal for people to submit information to Leicestershire Police remains open.

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