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- Camp leader Jon Ruben loses appeal against prison sentence for abusing boys
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Get you up to speed: Camp leader who drugged and sexually abused boys loses bid to reduce sentence | News UK
Jon Ruben, a former vet, was jailed for 23 years and 10 months for drugging and sexually abusing young boys at a summer camp in Stathern, Leicestershire. His sentence followed a Court of Appeal ruling that upheld the length of his punishment, which includes an extended licence period, bringing the total to 31 years and 10 months.
Jon Ruben, 77, will serve a total of 31 years and 10 months in prison following his conviction for multiple charges related to the drugging and sexual abuse of children at a summer camp. The Crown Prosecution Service described the planning involved in Ruben’s actions as “very significant,” highlighting that he used his veterinary skills to determine sedative doses for the smallest children.
Jon Ruben’s bid to reduce his prison sentence was rejected by the Court of Appeal, which described his crimes as “extreme” and “entirely shocking.” The Crown Prosecution Service highlighted the significant planning involved in his offences, and Ruben is set to serve a total of 31 years and 10 months in prison, with no changes made to his sentence length or extended licence period.
What remains unclear — It is unspecified how many children were affected by Ruben’s actions during the summer camp incident.
Camp leader Jon Ruben loses appeal against prison sentence for abusing boys
A former vet has lost a Court of Appeal bid to reduce the length of his prison sentence after drugging and sexually abusing young boys at a summer camp.
Jon Ruben, 77, who was labelled by his wife as a ‘sadistic, monstrous paedophile’, used the ‘cloak of Christianity’ to carry out his sex attacks on vulnerable children, Leicester Crown Court previously heard.
The summer camp leader was jailed for 23 years and 10 months at a hearing in February, with Ruben told he would serve a further period on licence, bringing his total sentence to 31 years and 10 months.
He had pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, eight counts of child cruelty, three counts of making indecent images of children and four drugs charges.
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The families of the victims also attended the hearing remotely. At the end of the hearing, three judges said they would change the structure of Ruben’s sentence, but declined to reduce the length of the jail term or extended licence period.
Ruben laced sweets with tranquilising drugs and attacked two children last year after playing ‘a sweet game’ with the youngsters at a summer camp at Stathern Lodge, in Stathern, Leicestershire.
Thomas Schofield KC said: ‘This was a very serious set of offending, and it required a serious sentence.’
He said there had been ‘double counting’ with the drugging of two of the boys when calculating the sentence, and that some counts should not have been given consecutive sentences.
Mr Schofield also said that ‘the demonstrable remorse of the appellant’ had not been properly considered and reflected by the sentencing judge.
The Crown Prosecution Service opposed Ruben’s bid to reduce the length of his prison sentence.
Mary Prior KC said: ‘This was a little boy who had to comprehend what had occurred to him whilst he was asleep. His humiliation, embarrassment, and shame he felt were clear from his mother’s victim personal statement.’
Ms Prior said there was ‘very significant planning’ by Ruben when he injected the sweets with drugs.
She said Ruben had used his veterinary skills to determine the appropriate dose of sedation and chose the smallest children.
The barrister later said there was ‘later remorse’ from Ruben, who had originally pretended not to know what drug had been used when eight children were admitted to hospital, and that he had not said what one child was penetrated with.
Mr Justice Swift, sitting with Lord Justice Jeremy Baker and Mr Justice Kimblin, said Ruben’s offending was ‘extreme’, and added: ‘The appellant’s offending was by any measure extremely serious and entirely shocking.’
‘The judge did make allowance for the appellant’s age… We see no reason to second guess the allowance made.’
The length of Ruben’s prison sentence and extended licence period did not change.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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