Paedophile scout leader who bragged about life on the run jailed for 46 years

A paedophile former scout leader who boasted about ‘living in paradise’ while spending nearly three decades on the run using a dying man’s identity has been jailed for 46 years.

Richard Burrows, 81, systematically abused 24 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 was initially arrested in April 1997 but skipped bail following his first court hearing and despite several police appeals and four Crimewatch appeals, detectives were unable to find any trace of him.

The trail remained cold until April 2023, when officers using specialist software to search for any possible images of Burrows online found a match for a Peter Smith who was living in Phuket, Thailand.

Detectives discovered Burrows had stolen the name from a terminally ill acquaintance and used it to fraudulently obtain a genuine passport in 1997 and slip out of the country without detection.

After becoming aware that Burrow was planning to fly back to the UK under the same alias, officers were there to meet him at Heathrow Airport and take him into custody.

Burrows was found guilty of 54 offences following a trial at Chester Crown Court, including indecent assault of boys, buggery, attempted buggery and indecency with a child.

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.

During sentencing, Judge Steven Everett handed him an extended sentence, with an additional one-year period on licence, he told Burrows it was ‘one of the most, if not the most serious’ case of its kind he had dealt with as a judge.

‘I recognise you will not be released. You are a despicable man. You have ruined countless lives,’ he said.

‘These serious sexual assaults were committed by you because you are a predator. You deliberately positioned yourself among groups and communities to get closer to them, and to groom and sexually abuse young boys.’

Burrows’ offending in Cheshire occurred between 1969 and 1971 while he was employed as a housemaster looking after vulnerable children at Danesford Children’s Home in Congleton.

His victims in the West Midlands and West Mercia areas were also all young boys who were abused between 1968 and 1995, the majority through local Scout groups where Burrows worked as a leader.

In each case, he befriended the 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.

It was not until the 1990s, following revelations in relation to offences at other children’s homes and institutions, that many of the victims had the confidence to come forward.

One told the court Burrows had ‘stripped away my humanity’ after he was taken away to his tent on his first camping trip with the Scouts and subjected to an eight-hour ordeal.

He said he twice attempted to take his own life and felt ‘perpetual trauma, shame and despair’.

Judge Everett told him: ‘You have done nothing to be ashamed of.’

Another victim said at the time he hid the abuse from his parents, could not tell any of his friends or trust a grown-up any more.

He said: ‘I had no-one to turn to and just internalised it all. It totally affected my future relationships and behaviour.

‘Even now I keep going through my head: “Why did you assault me? I looked up to you”.’

Judge Everett told him: ‘I want to be crystal clear. There is only one person at fault here and he is sitting opposite me in the dock.

‘I suspect every single person in the courtroom, bar one, feels totally sorry for you.’

Phil Clemo, defending, told the judge: ‘Putting it bluntly, whatever sentence your honour passes, he is going to die in prison.

‘He spent 27 years in Thailand in a pleasant setting. The reality is his last days will be on the prison estate somewhere.

‘He, of course, respects the verdicts of the jury even though he does not agree with it. He does accept on the matters he has always accepted and knows he has caused incredible suffering.’

Judge Everett replied: ‘I didn’t see much of that during the trial.

‘He used the truly obnoxious saying “good and bad paedophiles”. I have a feeling that the jury was repulsed by that.

‘His view was that a good paedophile did things which did not harm and a bad one does cause harm.

‘That thought process is so warped it is difficult to understand.’

Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson, who led the investigation, said Burrows is ‘a prolific sex offender’ who ‘specifically targeting vulnerable boys in order to fulfil his own sexual gratification’.

She went on: ‘Burrows knew he was guilty but rather than face the consequences of his actions, he acted like a coward and fled the country using a stolen identity taken from an unwell man.

‘In emails that we have found since his arrest, Burrows described how he has spent the past three decades “living in paradise”, while his victims have all been left to suffer as they struggled to try and rebuild their lives.

‘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.’

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