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Jon Ruben, 77, was jailed for 23 years and 10 months in February after his crimes at the Stathern Lodge summer camp came to light.
A pedophile summer camp leader who drugged young boys with sedative sweets is preparing to challenge his prison sentence.
Jon Ruben was jailed for 23 years and 10 months in February after his crimes at the Stathern Lodge summer camp came to light.
The 77-year-old is due to appear at the Court of Appeal next Friday (October 23), where he will confirm the sentence, which includes an extended license period of eight years.
This comes despite his lawyer previously informing Leicester Crown Court that Ruben is expected to die behind bars.
Ruben’s despicable offenses took place in late July 2025 when over 40 children were staying at Stathern Lodge, near Melton, the Nottingham Post reports.
Over two nights, Ruben distributed sweets injected with sedatives to boys before sexually assaulting two of them on the second night, the court was told.
Another adult discovered syringes, bottles and drugs in his room and alerted the police. Ruben was arrested while eight of the boys were taken to hospital.
For 27 years, Ruben ran summer camps for socially disadvantaged children as part of the Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund.
He also served on the parish council at St Peter’s Church in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, and the court heard he recruited children for the camps from youth clubs, Sunday schools and evening classes.
Prosecutor Mary Prior KC informed Ruben’s sentencing on February 6 that he consistently ensured young boys were accommodated in the two rooms closest to him. He singled out each room individually over two evenings in what he described as a “sweet game”, handing the boys three candies laced with tranquilizers and promising the first to finish all three would win a chocolate bar.
She explained that he used a syringe and drew on his expertise as a veterinarian to work out the dosages, and that the substance he bought off the dark web as Temazepam was actually an unlicensed drug called “liquid Xanax.”
The youngsters in the targeted rooms woke up uncomfortable and groggy, and on the second day one didn’t come around and was put to sleep while the others went out for lunch.
Ms Prior said there was no evidence Ruben had sexually assaulted anyone on the first evening, Saturday, July 26, but that this was his aim.
Ruben pleaded guilty at Leicester Crown Court in November to 17 offences.
These were sexual assault of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, eight counts of cruelty to persons under 16, three counts of taking indecent photographs of children, and drug offenses including the illegal purchase of temazepam.
He also admitted to drugging his wife Susan so she wouldn’t wake up while the abuse took place.
Ms Prior said: “He used his cloak of Christianity to poison boys aged eight to 11 to sexually abuse them.”
Thomas Schofield KC, representing Ruben, told the sentencing hearing that his client saved the children from giving evidence at a trial by admitting his crimes. He revealed that Ruben described himself as “evil” and a “monster” and expected to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
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