Serial paedo who spent 27 years on run using stolen identity is jailed for 46 years after abusing 24 young boys
A SERIAL paedo who spent 27 years on the run has been jailed for 46 years after abusing 24 young boys.
Richard Burrows, 81, carried out his depraved crimes across Cheshire West Midlands and West Mercia between 1968 and 1995.
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The former Scout leader fled to Thailand in 1997, which he described as "living in paradise", after he was initially charged with sex offences.
Burrows remained on the run for 27 years - evading cops despite numerous appeals and four national Crimewatch appeals.
He was eventually snared at Heathrow last March after he left Thailand following a cancer diagnosis.
Police using AI had managed to track Burrows down to Phuket where he had been living under an alias stolen from a terminally ill pal.
Burrows will now die behind bars after he was today jailed for 46 years for a string of child sex offences.
Sentencing, Recorder of Chester Judge Steven Everett said: "You are a despicable man. You have ruined countless lives.
"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."
Chester Crown Court heard the prolific paedo committed his vile crimes while he was a housemaster looking after vulnerable children at Danesford Children's Home in Congleton.
His victims in the West Midlands and West Mercia areas were abused between 1968 and 1995 - mainly through local Scout groups where Burrows worked as a leader.
In each case, the fiend befriended the victims using his position of trust.
Burrows was found guilty of 54 offences including indecent assault of boys, buggery, attempted buggery and indecency with a child.
He pleaded guilty to another 43 offences including indecent assault, making indecent images of children, possession of indecent images of children and four counts of possession of false identity documents with intent.
Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson, who had led the investigation, said: "Burrows is a coward, he knew he was guilty in 1997, but rather than face the consequences of his actions, he fled the country after fraudulently obtaining a passport using the identity of an unwell man.
'He spent the last 27 years, in his own words, 'living in paradise'. It is clear that he did not spare a thought for his victims, who were trying to live their lives under the shadow of the abuse they had suffered.
'It is my belief that Burrows hoped, on his return to the UK after so many years, that his offending might have been forgotten about.
'However, his victims could not forget what he did to them, Cheshire Police did not forget what he had done.
'The sentence handed to Burrows today will likely see Burrows spend the rest of his life in prison and I hope that this outcome finally provides the victims with some closure."
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