'Despicable' abuser set to die in jail after 27 years on run using a stolen identity

Judge hands 46-year term to ex-Scout leader, 81, who 'ruined countless lives'

- Sentinel Reporter

A PAEDOPHILE scout leader and school housemaster, who spent 27 years on the run with a stolen identity, has been jailed for 46 years for sexual offences against young boys.

Richard Burrows systematically abused 24 boys between 1968 and 1995. They included vulnerable children at Danesford Children's Home in Congleton where he was employed as a housemaster.

In emails found after his eventual arrest, Burrows described 'living in paradise' from 1997 after he fled to Thailand. That year, he had been charged with historical sex offences and was bailed but failed to attend a plea hearing at Chester Crown Court.

Attempts to locate him included several police appeals and four Crimewatch appeals on national television. In 2023, detectives tracked him to Chalong, in Phuket, where he went by the name of Peter Smith, an identity stolen from a terminally-ill acquaintance, allowing him to fraudulently obtain a genuine passport and leave the country without detection.