Paedophile Scoutmaster Who Spent Decades on the Run Has Jail Sentence Reduced

A former scoutmaster convicted of abusing boys in his care has had nine years cut from his prison term after appeal judges found an error in the way part of his sentence was imposed.

Richard Burrows, 83, a former boarding school housemaster and scout leader, was sentenced in April to 46 years in prison for a catalogue of sexual offences involving 24 boys between the late 1960s and the mid-1990s.

Burrows had evaded authorities for decades after fleeing to Thailand in 1997. In March, a jury convicted him of 54 offences, including four counts of “buggery” — offences that would be prosecuted as rape under modern law.

The convicted child sex offender, who is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison, also admitted 43 charges, among them possessing indecent images of children and four offences linked to holding passports in a false name.

It has now emerged that Burrows, who was arrested after returning to the UK in 2024, has had a nine-year portion of his sentence set aside following a ruling by the Court of Appeal.

At a hearing in June, his lawyers argued that the sentencing judge had wrongly separated two offences and that the overall prison term was “manifestly excessive” when the principle of totality was taken into account.

Lord Justice Edis, Mr Justice Choudhury and Mrs Justice Norton DBE rejected the first argument. However, they accepted that the total sentence imposed on Burrows was not “just or proportionate”.

As a result, the appeal judges quashed a nine-year sentence connected to one count of attempted buggery, reducing the overall term imposed on Burrows.

The order, which was initially to be served consecutively to the other offences, was substituted for a concurrent sentence, according to documents seen by the Liverpool Echo.

This means it will be served at the same time, bringing Burrows’ new sentence to be 38 years in prison. 

It is almost certain that Burrows, who has cancer, will not reach any stage whereby he might be considered for release. 

The paedophile became among Britain’s most wanted fugitives after he fled to Asia before he was due to go on trial for his crimes in 1997.

Burrows, then 53, was arrested and charged with a number of offences – which he denied – but failed to appear at a pre-trial plea and preparation hearing on December 8 that year. 

He had in fact fled to Thailand under the name of Peter Leslie Smith, having stolen an acquaintance’s identity and used it to obtain a passport. He lived in Thailand for the next 27 years.

However, after running out of money and returning to the UK, Burrows was detained by police at Heathrow Airport last March.

Police bodycam footage released earlier this year shows the moment Burrows, aided with a walking stick, was arrested after landing and bundled into a wheelchair. 

The predator’s crimes date back to when he worked as a housemaster at a school for troubled teenagers in the 1960s in Cheshire, and later when he worked with scouts and amateur radio clubs in the Midlands.  

A trial at Chester Crown Court heard how Burrows, originally from Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, used his positions of trust – which also included working as a master at a children’s home – ‘to satisfy himself sexually’ by abusing boys aged between 10 and 15.

The offences in Cheshire occurred from 1969 to 1971 while he was working as a housemaster, looking after vulnerable children at Danesford Children’s Home in Congleton.

Cheshire Police said 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 was a team leader.

In court, Burrows alleged his actions did not harm the children – even informing jurors that he was a ‘good paedophile’ who ‘loved boys’ and ‘wouldn’t harm them’.

When planning his return to Britain, he was also said to have told his brother that ‘not all paedophiles are the same’.

Burrows was condemned for his ‘pathetic’ attempts to justify his crimes by one of his victims, who waived his right to anonymity.

James Harvey, who was 13 or 14 when he was befriended by Burrows through his involvement with the sea scouts and indecently assaulted in a caravan, told Sky News: ‘I think he’s pathetic in the true sense of the word.

‘His impulses and emotions have driven everything that he’s done probably throughout the whole of his life and have left him looking like a shambling, despicable, evil human being that could casually over 60 years do this to children and still wake up in the morning and find a way of justifying it.

‘I think he’s pathetic, I think he’s weak. There is nothing about this man that deserves anything other than loathing.’

During Burrows’ trial, Prosecutor Mark Connor KC told how the boys who attended the school were ‘vulnerable’, having previously been in trouble or had problems at home.

The court heard Burrows committed some of the sex attacks – to which he pleaded guilty – in the attic room of his address in Sutton Coldfield where he kept his radio equipment.

One of his victims from the attic was aged only 12 or 13 when he was attacked sometime between 1966 and 1968.

After noticing an appeal on the BBC Crimewatch programme in 2011, he came forward to police.

A further victim was a 12-year-old paper boy with an interest in radios that was invited by Burrows to his home. Burrows, who asked the boy to see his radio equipment, then assaulted him in the attic.

The victim came forward when he saw news of his arrest in 2024. 

Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson, who had led the investigation into Burrows, previously described him as a ‘prolific sex offender’.

She said: ‘He systematically abused his victims, specifically targeting vulnerable boys in order to fulfil his own sexual gratification.

‘Following his initial charges in 1997, 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.

‘Thankfully, following our determination, he has finally been held accountable for his actions and is now behind bars where he belongs.

‘It was clear throughout his trial that he 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.

‘I also hope that this case acts as a warning to any other wanted suspects – demonstrating that no matter how long you hide, we will find you and you will be held accountable.’