A 76-year-old's been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with child cruelty offences following an incident at a summer camp in Leicestershire where several youngsters became unwell.
Jon Ruben, from Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning charged with three counts of wilfully assaulting, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health, relating to three boys at the summer camp between July 25 and July 29.
The court was told the charges relate to sweets which were allegedly laced with sedatives.
Leicestershire Police received a report last weekend that children at Stathern Lodge in Canal Lane, Stathern, had fallen ill.
Eight children, all boys aged between eight and 11, and one adult were taken to hospital as a precaution but were discharged, police said.
Ruben was remanded in custody and told he would next appear at Leicester Crown Court on August 29.
The defendant stood in the dock wearing a grey sweatshirt and spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address during the four-minute hearing.
He gave no indication of his pleas to the court.
Detectives said the “owners and operators of Stathern Lodge are independent from those people who use or hire the lodge and are not connected to the incident”.
The investigation is being led by the East Midlands special operations unit’s major incident team.
Leicestershire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct after officers said the incident happened on Monday, before amending the date to Sunday.
It is unclear as of yet when officers responded and whether that is why the watchdog referral has been made.
Neighbours recalled seeing distressed parents outside the village hall in nearby Plungar, which was used as a triage centre for the children on Monday.