Man, 76, charged over poisoning of children at summer camp

Times

15 hours ago

A trustee who runs a Christian charity has been charged over the poisoning of children at a summer camp.
Jonathon Ruben, 76, was arrested on Monday after eight children under his care fell ill during a trip to Stathern Lodge in Leicestershire.
The pensioner, of Ruddington in Nottingham, is the secretary of the charity running the three-day holiday camp, which was attended by about 45 children last weekend.
Police received reports that several children were unwell on Sunday, but officers and paramedics did not attend until Monday.
The group of campers are understood to have been dining at a nearby pub in the village of Plungar when emergency services arrived at about 3.30pm.
Chaotic and 'stressful' scenes followed as the children and charity workers were taken to the village hall, which was used as a makeshift triage centre, for examination.
Eight children, all boys aged between 8 and 11, and one adult were taken to hospital, but have all been discharged.
Ruben was arrested in the pub car park on Monday on suspicion of administering poison or a noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.
He was charged on Friday evening with three counts of wilful ill treatment of a child, relating to three of the children.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has authorised prosecution of Ruben for child cruelty offences. Janine McKinney, the chief crown prosecutor for CPS East Midlands, said: 'This has been an extremely upsetting and shocking moment for the community, and especially for the children and parents most directly affected.'
Ruben will appear at Leicester magistrates' court on Saturday.
Ruben and his wife run the Stathern Children's Holiday Fund, which organises subsidised holidays at the lodge for children from disadvantaged areas of Nottingham. The charity calls its summer camps 'safe havens for fostering friendships, building skills and sparking potential'. It welcomes children of all faiths.
Campers enjoy outdoor activities at the lodge, which has games rooms, as well as the park, zip wire and bouncy castles. Children who have attended have said their favourite features are the tuck shop and 'delicious food'.
In its annual reports, the charity suggested volunteers have struggled to cope with the demands of caring for a large number of children, a significant proportion of whom have 'moderate to severe behavioural, learning or medical conditions'.
The report in 2023 said: 'Even though we have a large number of volunteers, we do need a higher ratio of adults to children than legally required to care effectively for these youngsters.'
The trustees previously agreed to limit the length of the stays to three days and reduce the number of children in each group 'because four days appeared too exhausting for the volunteers'.
Ruben qualified as a primary school teacher before working as a locum and a youth worker at his church.
Plungar residents described upsetting scenes as children were taken for medical assessments before their parents started to arrive.
Leicestershire police referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over its initial handling of the incident. The watchdog will investigate its delayed response.