{"id":306606,"date":"2025-07-31T12:49:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306606\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T12:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:49:15","slug":"man-76-arrested-as-summer-camp-children-fall-ill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306606\/","title":{"rendered":"Man, 76, arrested as summer camp children fall ill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Smith<\/p>\n

BBC News, East Midlands<\/p>\n

\"NEMMNEMM<\/p>\n

Police received a report of children feeling unwell at a summer camp on Sunday<\/p>\n

A 76-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of administering poison after children fell ill at a summer camp in Leicestershire.<\/p>\n

Police said an investigation was under way after eight children at the camp at Stathern Lodge were taken to hospital on Sunday. All have since been discharged.<\/p>\n

Officers had gone to the camp, in Canal Lane, with East Midlands Ambulance Service after receiving reports about the children feeling unwell.<\/p>\n

The arrested man was detained on suspicion of administering poison\/a noxious thing with intent to injure\/aggrieve\/annoy. He remains in custody.<\/p>\n

‘Conduct referral’<\/p>\n

Leicestershire Police said the investigation was now being led by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit’s major incident team.<\/p>\n

“This is to allow a full and thorough investigation to take place with dedicated resources,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Officers remain in Stathern on Thursday, carrying out further inquiries and providing reassurance to families affected.<\/p>\n

The police watchdog has confirmed it is looking into the force’s handling of the incident.<\/p>\n

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) spokesperson said it received a “conduct referral” on Tuesday from the force “relating to their handling of concerns passed to them over the wellbeing of a group of children”.<\/p>\n

“Our assessment team has examined all available evidence and concluded the matter should be independently investigated by the IOPC,” they said.<\/p>\n

“The investigation will look at whether there were any breaches of professional behaviour – namely a failure to carry out duties and responsibilities – that resulted in a delay in Leicestershire Police’s response to what was later declared a critical incident.” <\/p>\n

\"NEMMNEMM<\/p>\n

Officers remain in Stathern on Thursday while investigation work continues <\/p>\n

Det Insp Neil Holden, the senior investigating officer, added: “We understand the concern this incident will have caused to parents, guardians and the surrounding community.<\/p>\n

“We are in contact with the parents and guardians of all children concerned.<\/p>\n

“Please be reassured that we have several dedicated resources deployed and are working with partner agencies including children’s services to ensure full safeguarding is provided to the children involved.<\/p>\n

“This is a complex and sensitive investigation and we will continue to provide updates to both parents and guardians and the public as and when we can.”<\/p>\n

A dedicated major incident public portal has been set up, and anyone with any information is asked to report it online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Local MP Ed Argar, Conservative member for Melton and Syston, described the reports as “clearly shocking” and “deeply concerning”.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts are with the young people affected, wishing them a full recovery,” he said.<\/p>\n

“While, understandably, people will have a lot of questions about what has happened, it is important we remember this is a live police criminal investigation, so I would caution against people speculating while the police do that work.<\/p>\n

“I would, however, encourage the police to provide as much information publicly as they can, as soon as they can, but without prejudicing that vital investigation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Smith BBC News, East Midlands NEMM Police received a report of children feeling unwell at a summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-306606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114947933184182436","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}