Man (76) charged after children fell ill at Leicestershire summer camp
a number of children became unwell at a summer camp
in Leicestershire,
England
.
Jon Ruben, of Ruddington, Nottingham, has been charged with three counts of wilful ill treatment of a child. The charges relate to three children at the rural camp in the village of Stathern, Leicestershire police said on Friday.
Police launched an investigation after children attending the camp at Stathern Lodge, near Melton, became unwell.
Emergency services attended the scene and eight children, all boys aged between eight and 11, along with one adult, were taken to hospital as a precaution. All of the patients have since been discharged.
READ MORE
Mr Ruben has been remanded into custody and will appear at Leicester magistrates court on Saturday.
Janine McKinney, chief crown prosecutor for CPS East Midlands, said: 'The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised the prosecution of a 76-year-old man with child cruelty offences following a police investigation into a summer camp held at Stathern Lodge, Leicestershire.
'This decision has been made after reviewing a file of evidence from Leicestershire police.
'Jonathon Ruben will be charged with three offences of wilful ill treatment of a child relating to three boys. He will appear at Leicester magistrates court on Saturday, August 2nd.
'This has been an extremely upsetting and shocking moment for the community, and especially for the children and parents most directly affected.
'We would like to remind all concerned that there are now active criminal proceedings against Mr Ruben and he has the right to a fair trial. There must be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online that may in any way prejudice these proceedings.'
Leicestershire police had originally said the incident happened on Monday, before amending it to Sunday, and it remains unclear whether officers only responded on Monday and whether that is why the force has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The force said in a statement: '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 investigation is being led by the East Midlands special operations unit's major incident team.
Detective inspector Neil Holden, the senior investigating officer, said: 'We understand the concern this incident will have caused to parents, guardians and the surrounding community.'
He added: 'This is a complex and sensitive investigation and we will continue to provide updates to both parents and guardians and the public as and when we can.'
The IOPC said: 'Our assessment team has examined all available evidence and concluded the matter should be independently investigated by the IOPC.
'The investigation will look at whether there were any breaches of professional behaviour – namely a failure to carry out duties and responsibilities – that resulted in a delay in Leicestershire police's response to what was later declared a critical incident.' - Guardian
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Gardaí rule out foul play after man's body found in Cork house
Gardaí investigating the death of a man in his fifties, whose body was found in a Cork city property yesterday, have ruled out foul play. The alarm was raised at 4pm on Tuesday, August 5th, by a man who was passing by at Lower Barrack View, off Cathedral Walk, and spotted the body inside a window of a terraced house. Gardaí attended the scene and discovered the man's body inside. The Office of the State Pathologist was notified and the scene was preserved for a full technical examination. There was no evidence of forced entry at the property. A postmortem examination was carried out today at Cork University Hospital. The death is not being treated as suspicious. READ MORE Gardaí will prepare a file for the Cork City Coroner and an inquest is expected to be heard at a later date.
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Police investigate as Irishwoman found dead on boat in New York yacht club
Police in New York are investigating the death of an Irish woman on a yacht in Long Island in New York state. Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra (33) was found unconscious on a boat at the exclusive Montauk Yacht Club in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Ms Nolan-O'Slatarra was originally from Carlow town. She worked in Ireland until 2015 before emigrating to the United States. She set up her own brand East x East, a luxury brand wear for sunglasses, swimwear and resort wear for men and women. She recently posted on her TikTok images of her pop-up East x East shop at Gurney's Resort in the Hamptons. She promised that she would be organising brand events and pool parties during the summer in the Hamptons. READ MORE Her cause of death is still under investigation and will be determined by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office. A police statement said: 'East Hampton Town Police responded to a 911 call from a man reporting a woman unconscious on a boat docked at the Montauk Yacht Club, on Star Island Road, at approximately 12am. Good Samaritans attempted to perform CPR on the woman. 'Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra, 33, of Manhattan, was pronounced dead on the boat by first responders.' The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance. 'As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases,' a statement said. A Montauk Yacht Club spokesperson said: 'We are saddened to learn of the tragic incident that took place. Our team is cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation and remains committed to the safety and well-being of our guests and staff. We have no further comment at this time.' Ms Nolan-O'Slatarra earned a commerce degree from UCD and an MA in digital marketing from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Irish Times
14 hours ago
- Irish Times
Refusing to see the links between domestic violence and wider society amount to reckless denial
The revelation that four in 10 of those arrested for last summer's UK riots had been reported for prior domestic abuse was useful but hardly surprising. Useful in drawing an indisputable link between public violent disorder and domestic violence. Not at all surprising in that people who try to set fire to human beings in buildings while roaring 'burn it down' are unlikely to be paragons of domestic harmony back home. This is well-documented territory. Among the rioters arrested at the US Capitol in January 2021, NPR identified dozens of defendants with prior convictions or pending charges for crimes including rape, sexual abuse of a minor, domestic violence, manslaughter, production of child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking. Among prominent Capitol rioters included in Donald Trump 's blanket pardon was Peter Schwartz who had 38 prior convictions including domestic assault. A 2020 charge against Schwartz of assaulting his wife included details of biting her forehead and punching her multiple times. Another is serving 19 years for raping a seven-year-old child. Though societies are taking a while to work it out, domestic violence is not just a private assault on intimate partners and children. It serves as a red flag for potential violence in the public space from crime to war and terrorism. READ MORE This is why the jubilant New York street scenes with much spraying of baby oil following the verdicts in the Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial were among the most depressing features of the case. They were claiming exoneration following his acquittal of racketeering and sex trafficking, though he was found guilty of 'transportation to engage in prostitution'. More than that, they knew precisely what his own defence team had conceded in court; that Combs was a violent domestic abuser. 'We own the domestic violence. We own it. I hope you guys know this,' his lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the jury in a perverse case of humblebrag. They had to own it. There was video evidence of Combs knocking his girlfriend to the ground and kicking her where she lay. Afterwards Agnifilo declared: 'It's a great victory for Sean Combs; it's a great victory for the jury system.' Here was a top-flight lawyer, who rather than fade out with a semblance of humility and dignity, chose bullish triumphalism and half-truths to celebrate a domestic abuser. When asked if he might pardon Combs, Trump replied: 'Well, he was essentially, I guess, sort of half innocent. Probably, you know I was friendly with him. I got along with him very well ...' For those of us not in the megarich politician/lawyer/celebrity bracket, it's a simple equation: people who want to persuade themselves that the accusers of Combs or Trump or Conor McGregor – the wannabe president who tweeted during the Dublin riots: 'Do not let any Irish property be took over unannounced. Evaporate said property. It's a war' – are gold-diggers and liars and may carry on with the non-conflicted fandom. But refusing to see the links between attacks on women and children and the wider eruptions in society amount to reckless denial of a kind that rebounds on society at large. Women's Aid received the highest number of disclosures of domestic violence and abuse in its 50-year history last year. In the past week or so, Irish headlines have served up some potent reminders of what such intimate violence looks like: Ian Rutledge who murdered his wife Vanessa Whyte and their two children Sara and James in Maguiresbridge, Fermanagh, had tried to strangle her a week before the shootings, according to a Sunday Life article published on the Belfast Telegraph's website. He had a legally-held shotgun. A woman who was raped and choked by her partner Christopher Ryan while he told her, 'I will f**k you up once you pass out', told the Central Criminal Court that she would 'never trust again'. A 21 year old called Jack Cummins was sentenced to six years in prison for organising a four-man assault on a then-17 year old girl, which left her permanently blind in one eye. Alanna Quinn Idris said she had been harassed for years. A man who told his wife she should remain inside the home, restricted her food, limited the heating and had a security system with cameras that fed back to an app on his phone was given a suspended sentence for coercive control and assault. A 24-year-old carpet fitter John Hoey pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to his pregnant partner after accusing her of cheating. He pushed her head under the water while she was having a bath, threatened her with a knife and grabbed her by the throat causing her to pass out. Pedro Cifali tracked and followed his former partner's car around Dublin while he disguised himself before attempting to murder her by stabbing her in the neck, back and abdomen. Lucia Nezbalove survived only because a doctor nearby heard her screams and kept her alive. A man attacked his partner, dragged her by the hair, punched and kicked her before she ran into her child's bedroom, where he followed her with a knife, attempted to slit her throat and sliced her cheek before stabbing her twice near-fatally in the chest before attempting to stab his stepdaughter. He has not accepted the jury verdicts. A 28-year-old father of three was jailed for 18 months for asking a mother on Snapchat if he could have sex with – or 'feek' as he put it – her two-year-old daughter. 'Domestic' violence may be the most stupidly damaging misnomer of the era. It's time to start drawing the connection in our own society too. The 24/7 freephone helpline for Women's Aid is 1800 341 900. There is an instant-messaging service on lists 37 domestic abuse services across Ireland
