Summer camp sex abuser seen as ‘pillar of community’published at 17:00 GMT
17:00 GMT
Parents of children who were drugged and sexually assaulted by summer camp leader Jon Ruben saw him as a “pillar of the community” and had “immense” trust in him as a local church member, a detective has said.
More than 40 youngsters were at the Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund camp, run by Ruben, during one weekend last summer when eight children and one adult were taken to hospital after becoming unwell.
Speaking ahead of Ruben’s sentencing, temporary Det Ch Insp Neil Holden (pictured above), from Leicestershire Police, said the former vet and teacher was well-known to parents and they “trusted him completely” because he was involved in a number of local churches and schools.
Holden said: “He was seen as a man doing a lot of good for children in the community.
“A man seen as almost… a pillar of the community and he was trusted by everybody.
“The children and the parents talk about how that trust has been shattered. They had an immense amount of trust in Jon Ruben.
“They can’t understand how he’s broken that trust in such a severe and horrific way.
“A lot of the parents blame themselves. They blame themselves for trusting Jon Ruben, they blame themselves for allowing their children to go away and be supervised by Jon Ruben.
“There’s only one person to blame for this, and that is Jon Ruben.”