The 'sadistic' camp leader who hid behind mask of normality

Many people who encountered Jon Ruben described their first impressions of him as a nice and "normal" man.

The former vet, teacher and church youth worker built a reputation as a pillar of the community, earning the respect of his family, peers and parents who entrusted him with their children's safety while he ran summer camps for almost three decades.

This facade hid the "monstrous and sadistic" reality behind the 76-year-old, who was jailed for more than 23 years on Friday after admitting to lacing sweets with a tranquilliser and giving them to boys, before sexually assaulting them.

In court, it was said Ruben "used his cloak of Christianity to poison boys in order to sexually abuse them", and his roles gave him "unfettered access" to young boys.

Ruben, from Ruddington in Nottinghamshire, was a former vet, and Judge Timothy Spencer KC said he "misused" his knowledge from that profession and used the dark web to access drugs.

In November, 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 the abuse in July 2025 took place at Stathern Lodge in Leicestershire.

A number of people who knew Ruben, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC there was very little that suggested any wrongdoing was taking place at the camp.

One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke to the BBC after Ruben had admitted 17 of the offences he was jailed for.

She met Ruben when she was a child, when he would come to their school to sing religious hymns in assembly and ran a church club in Clifton in Nottingham.

"I always thought he was a nice man," she said.

While staying at Stathern Lodge, she said she would never see him at nighttime as he would be looking after the boys' side.

She said: "We didn't have to pay a penny, so even my mum at the time thought it was a bit dodgy, but I kept begging her because all my friends were going."

The woman also recalled playing a game where a person would eat chocolate blindfolded.

"There wasn't really any harm done by it back then anyway," she said.

"You don't look for things like that and I've never felt anything by it with his sweets and his chocolate games."

However, after hearing of the crimes Ruben had admitted to, she described him as "absolutely vile", adding: "I can't believe I've been let around him."

"We never suspected a thing with him at all. But I don't know, the boys might have to say something different, but I don't know. I can't speak on behalf of them," she said.

A performer who ran arts workshops at Stathern Lodge on several occasions spoke anonymously to the BBC about Ruben.

He described Ruben as "headmasterly" and said his impression of the summer camp was "definitely a bit chaotic but seemed entirely appropriate".

"There was certainly no red flags, no alarm bells of any kind, it just felt like a youth group on an away day," he said.

After hearing about the news of Ruben's charges and later the admission of his crimes, he said he felt "desolate with disappointment" and described Ruben's offences as "deceit and abuse on a grand scale".

However, even with hindsight, he said he did not see anything "that wasn't just people going about their business".

He said: "I cannot recall anything that leaves me now thinking, 'oh, I wish I'd noticed, or wish I had said something'. There just isn't, there was nothing.

"My anger and disappointment is that that stupid man managed to so compartmentalise his life that he could spend decades running these schemes, which presumably did deliver a fair amount of benefit to people, but at the same time, somehow, completely divorce himself from what was being perpetrated on the side.

"It leaves me with a pit in my stomach. It's disgusting, it's depraved, it's exploitative, it's utterly disrespectful."

The BBC also spoke to a woman who said she knew Ruben through fundraising for the Stathern Children Holiday Fund, which helped children who would not otherwise get a holiday to attend the summer camp.

When asked about Stathern Lodge, she said: "I understood it to be a really happy children's camp."

She described Ruben as "inoffensive" and "a normal bloke", adding that "Jon was definitely the leader, he was in charge" and if the children needed quietening down "he would speak to them like a teacher".

When asked how she felt after hearing the charges, she said: "Honestly speaking, I was just horrified."

"I feel sick and I suppose I just feel a bit stupid.

"Why didn't we think that he was a bit strange or a bit odd or pick up something that we just weren't comfortable with?

"But we didn't and I suppose I feel like I hope the money that we've worked hard to raise hasn't been used to put children in an awful position."

An investigation into any involvement he had with young people, including employment as a teacher, is "very much ongoing", temporary Det Ch Insp Neil Holden, of Leicestershire Police, confirmed.

Officers are working to contact schools and youth organisations in the Nottinghamshire area, which Ruben is known to have been involved with across the past 20 or more years.