Latest news with #JonathanRuben
Telegraph
01-08-2025
- Telegraph
Pensioner charged after children ‘poisoned' at summer camp
A former vet and primary school teacher has been charged over the alleged poisoning of children at a Christian summer camp in Leicestershire. Jonathan Ruben, 76, the secretary of a charity running the holiday getaway, has been charged with three counts of wilful ill-treatment of a child. The charges relate to three different children. Mr Ruben, of Ruddington, Nottingham, has been remanded into custody and will appear at Leicester magistrates' court on Saturday. Police received a report of children feeling unwell at the camp at Stathern Lodge on Sunday, but officers were not deployed until Monday. Ten ambulances and an air ambulance were in attendance, and eight children, all boys aged between eight and 11, were taken to hospital as a precaution. They have all since been discharged. On Monday, Mr Ruben was arrested in a pub car park in Plungar, just over a mile from the lodge, where the village hall was used as a triage centre to assess all children present at the camp. Before he retired, he spent more than 40 years as a vet after qualifying from the Royal (Dick) Vet School in Edinburgh in 1972 before completing a PhD in virology, studying NDV in chickens. He opened his own small animal practice in the 1980s, which expanded to eight vets and four branches, but then changed direction and qualified as an early years primary school teacher. He then worked as a locum vet, and as the children and youth worker at his church. Mr Ruben is thought to have ended his work as a locum vet last year when he dissolved his company, but had previously stood to join the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Council in 2012. He received 800 votes, short of the 1,200 needed to be elected. According to a blog for his campaign, he had previously stood for the Conservatives at local elections in Edinburgh. The children were at the summer camp at the lodge, owned by the Braithwaite Gospel Trust, a Christian charity, which bought it in 2017, when they fell ill. Mr Ruben is the secretary of a separate Christian charity, Stathern Children's Holiday Fund, which has run camps at the lodge in recent years and provides free holidays to underprivileged youngsters aged eight to 12. Each camp is normally three days long and involves around 30 children, mostly from the Aspley and Clifton areas of Nottingham. The camps normally feature trips to leisure centres, have a theme each year and are run by volunteers who provide three meals a day. Activities are a mix of crafts and organised games, and children get free time to play table tennis, pool and games consoles or sports including football, basketball and badminton. 'It was pretty scary' Jonathan Jesson, one of the trustees of the Braithwaite Gospel Trust, said the lodge was being used at the weekend by a church group from Nottingham and that it was 'horrifying to understand that something like that could happen'. He said the trust allowed independent groups to use the lodge as a self-catering hostel accommodation and it was 'a place where people could come and enjoy the surroundings and have Christian input'. 'As far as I know, every group should bring their own leaders and have their own programme, and they deal with everything themselves, food and all the rest of it,' he said. Following the incident, residents described the alleged poisonings as like something out of a 'horror story' and said the incident had rocked the 'sleepy village'. June Grant, 83, a former bookings secretary at Plungar village hall, said: 'You could hear the ambulances and police cars whizzing around the village. It was pretty scary, but such good news that the children are OK.' Another resident who lives near the hall said: 'It was pretty chaotic, with emergency workers running around everywhere. I saw a few children in tears as they walked into the hall. It's like every parent's worst nightmare, dropping your child at summer camp and then being told they might have been poisoned.' Leicestershire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) 'due to the circumstances of the initial police response'. An IOPC spokesman said: 'We received a conduct referral on Tuesday from Leicestershire Police relating to their handling of concerns passed to them over the well-being of a group of children. 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.' Assistant Chief Constable James Avery previously said: 'Following initial assessment, I can confirm that eight children were taken to hospital as a precaution and have since been discharged. Officers have been in contact with the parents and guardians of those children taken to hospital.'
Daily Mail
01-08-2025
- Daily Mail
First picture: Pensioner, 76, charged with child cruelty offences over 'poisoning' at children's summer camp that left eight youngsters in hospital
This is the first picture of the pensioner charged in connection with a suspected poisoning at a children's summer camp. Jonathan Ruben, 76, was arrested on Monday after eight children and an adult were taken to hospital as a precaution when they fell ill at the Leicestershire camp. All have since been discharged. The camp was being run by the Stathern Children's Holiday Fund SCHF, which provides 'school clubs or subsidised holidays' for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in Nottingham. Mr Ruben, a veterinary surgeon whose business was dissolved last August according to Companies House records, is listed as a trustee of the charity. The pensioner's wife Susan, 62, is listed as chair of the ten trustees. Leicestershire Police this afternoon announced that Mr Ruben had been charged with child cruelty offences. He will appear before Leicester Magistrates on Saturday, August 2. The Daily Mail revealed on Thursday that the suspect had been arrested in the car park of the Anchor Inn at Plungar, three miles from Stathern Lodge, the facility which staged the camp, on Monday. Today a Nottinghamshire Police car remained outside Mr Ruben's bungalow at affluent Ruddington, on the edge of the city. Neighbours said there had been police activity at the property since Monday. A local resident, who didn't want to be named, said: 'We haven't seen any white-suited forensics teams, but what we assume are detectives have been coming in and out, and taking bags of stuff away. 'There were so many that it was obvious something really serious must have happened. Eventually we went and asked them because we were so worried. They were really tight-lipped, but eventually all they would say when we asked them the specific question was that there hadn't been any loss of life. 'They said we would find out eventually, and on Thursday we did.' The neighbour said police had been at the address '24/7' since arriving on Monday. The resident added: 'The whole thing is a complete and utter shock. We gather he has run the charity for a long time - it is a wonderful cause and does a lot of good work. He is a lovely guy, and they are a lovely couple. 'They are really good neighbours - we usually see him walking his two dogs. We haven't seen the wife since Monday. 'We knew he was doing camps this summer, although we didn't know he was away at the weekend. We last saw him on Thursday last week. 'To be honest we are hoping it is all a terrible mistake. He is the last person you would expect to be involved in something like this.' The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating Leicester Police's response to the incident. The force confirmed that officers did not visit the summer camp until Monday, a day after receiving the report that children had been feeling ill. 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'. Trustee Jonathan Jesson confirmed that the facility was being used by a group from Nottingham. He added: 'The trust owns the lodge, and lets it to independent groups as self-catering hostel accommodation. 'The charity was set up by a Christian farmer in the early 1970s, and part of his will dictated that Stathern Lodge would be used for the good of young people.' On Thursday, Leicestershire Police said the suspect had been arrested on suspicion of administering poison or a 'noxious thing' with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy. The investigation is being led by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit's Major Incident Team to allow 'a full and thorough investigation to take place with dedicated resources'. In a statement on Thursday, Detective Inspector Neil Holden, the senior investigating officer, said he was at the helm of a 'complex and sensitive investigation'. Leicestershire Police said it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) 'due to the circumstances of the initial police response'. The watchdog said: 'We received a conduct referral on Tuesday from Leicestershire Police relating to their handling of concerns passed to them over the wellbeing of a group of children. '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.'
