Paedophile scout leader who spent 27 years on the run found guilty of dozens child sex abuse crimes
17 March 2025, 17:41
A former scout leader has been found guilty of nearly dozens sexual offences against young boys after spending 27 years on the run using the stolen identity of a terminally ill man.
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Richard Burrows, 80, was found guilty of 54 offences at Chester Crown Court on Monday, including indecent assault of boys, buggery, attempted buggery and indecency with a child.
The court heard Burrows systematically abused 26 young boys across the Cheshire, West Midlands and West Mercia areas between 1968 and 1995 while working as a scout leader and housemaster in a children's home.
He had already pleaded guilty to another 43 offences, including indecent assault of boys, making indecent images of children, possession of indecent images of children and four counts of possession of false identity documents with intent, at an earlier hearing.
In emails found since his arrest, Burrows described spending nearly the past three decades as "living in paradise" after going on the run in 1997 before eventually settling down in Thailand.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on April 7 for the 97 offences.The abuser’s vile acts in Cheshire occurred between 1969 and 1971 while he was employed as a housemaster looking after vulnerable children at Danesford Children's Home.
His victims in the West Midlands and West Mercia areas were also all young boys who were abused between 1968 and 1995, mostly through local Scout groups where Burrows worked as a leader.
He was also involved in amateur radio clubs in the area.
The pedophile’s horror tactic involved befriending his victims by using his position of trust over them and their personal interests, such as radio communications or boating.
After gaining their trust, and in many cases the trust of their families, Burrows then went on to sexually abuse the boys, police said.But it was not until the 1990s, after revelations in relation to offences at other children's homes and institutions emerged, that many of the victims had the confidence to come forward, according to Cheshire Police.
He was initially arrested in April 1997 and charged in May 1997 with two counts of buggery (anal sex) and 11 counts of indecent assault in relation to the offences in Cheshire and some in the West Midlands.
After his first appearance at magistrates' courts, he was released on bail but failed to attend a further hearing at Chester Crown Court on December 8 1997.
It was not until April 2023 that detectives got a major lead into his whereabouts. Cheshire Police's serious and organised crime unit used specialist software to search for any possible images of Burrows online to find a match for a man using the name of Peter Smith who was living in Chalong in Phuket, Thailand.
Detectives discovered Burrows had stolen the name Peter Smith from an acquaintance who was terminally ill, which allowed him to fraudulently obtain a genuine passport in 1997 and leave the country without detection.
He was eventually arrested at Heathrow last March after the National Crime Agency worked with Thai authorities as they monitored his travel back to the UK. Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson, who led the investigation, said: "It is clear that he is a prolific sex offender. He systematically abused his victims, specifically targeting vulnerable boys in order to fulfil his own sexual gratification.”
The detective later added that it is clear Burrows “did not feel remorse and had not thought at any point while living abroad about the impact his abuse had on his young victims.”
"While his victims will never be able to forget what happened to them, I hope that the fact that Burrows has now been held accountable will finally provide them with some closure. Sadly, four of his victims have now passed away and so did not get to see justice served.”
Police said anyone with information to share about Burrows should go to website: mipp.police.uk/operation/07CH23D51.
