Latest news with #PimEyes
Daily Mail
30-04-2025
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Paedophile scoutmaster who fled to Thailand and spent decades on the run will die behind bars after being jailed for 46 years
A paedophile scout leader and school housemaster who spent 27 years on the run in Thailand has today been jailed for 46 years. Richard Burrows, 81, systematically abused 24 boys across the Cheshire, West Midlands and West Mercia areas between 1968 and 1995. The predator became one of the UK's most wanted fugitives when he fled the country before his trial was due to take place in 1997. The trail went completely cold for more than a quarter of a century until last year when officers at Cheshire police ran a manipulated mugshot through a publicly available AI facial recognition program, PimEyes. After searching through billions of photos online, it unexpectedly came up with a match with 'Peter Smith', a British expat living in Thailand, partly thanks to a distinctive mole visible on both his and 'Peter's' jaw. Burrows was arrested at Heathrow Airport in March last year after returning from Thailand. In emails found after his eventual arrest, Burrows described 'living in paradise' on the tropical island of Phuket. He had stolen the name from an acquaintance who was terminally ill, which allowed him to fraudulently obtain a genuine passport and leave the country without detection. Richard Burrows is pictured in a police mugshot in 1997, when he was first arrested, and in a more recent one when he was arrested last year and found guilty Last month, Burrows was found guilty by a jury at Chester Crown Court of 54 offences including indecent assault of boys, buggery, attempted buggery and indecency with a child. He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing 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. His offending in Cheshire took place 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 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. Following the sentencing, 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. 'I also hope that this case acts as a warning to any other wanted suspects out there – we will find you and you will be held accountable for your actions.' Duncan Burrage, International Liaison Officer for the National Crime Agency, said: 'British paedophiles have gone to Thailand thinking it is a safe haven. It is not. 'This case is another example of our international officers working closely with Thai law enforcement to track down fugitives, making sure they return to the UK to face the consequences of the crimes. 'Richard Burrows spent decades on the run and went to great lengths change his identity and live in Thailand, but he has finally faced justice in the UK.
BBC News
30-04-2025
- BBC News
Richard Burrows: How AI found abuser who fled to Thailand
A serial paedophile who went on the run for 28 years was tracked down thanks to Artificial Intelligence, police have Burrows was jailed for 46 years on Wednesday for 97 charges of child sexual abuse while working as a housemaster at a Cheshire boarding school and alongside scout groups in the West Midlands between the late 1960s and of his victims said they'd given up hope he would ever be found when he fled the country in other avenues had failed, Cheshire Police last year turned to a website that uses facial recognition technology. It found him in seconds - in of Burrows's victims, James Harvey, who has waived his right to anonymity, told the BBC he assumed his abuser would "never be seen again". It was 1997 when Burrows failed to turn up to Chester Crown Court, where he was due to enter a plea after being charged with multiple child sexual who'd suffered his abuse as children were preparing to give evidence against him, reliving their had been granted bail at an earlier court hearing, a decision that was not unusual, according to Det Insp Eleanor Atkinson, who led the 2024 police went to his home in Birmingham, they discovered he had recently arranged to sell his car, which along with other clues led them to conclude he had been planning an escape. But there was no hint as to where he had gone. There were appeals in the media, including three on the BBC's Crimewatch programme, which prompted other victims to come forward, but didn't succeed in locating - not his real name - saw one Crimewatch appeal in 2011, which he said sent him into "a rage" and led to him reporting what had happened to him as a 2024, it was 13 years after the last national TV appeal and more than 50 years after Burrows began his abuse, but one officer had the idea of using a website to search for him. This was a website that any member of the public can subscribe to - not some specialist tool for police or security uses AI facial recognition technology to crawl the web looking for similar detectives uploaded Burrows's 1997 custody mugshot into PimEyes and it found multiple photos of an aged Richard Burrows from his retirement party in 2019, complete with a telltale pimple on his photos were on the website of a newspaper based in Phuket, which named him not as Richard Burrows but as Peter PimEyes - a relatively obscure website launched eight years ago in Poland - had taken less than a minute to make the breakthrough that detectives, Interpol and Crimewatch appeals had been unable to for over two and a half a website that is clearly popular with police officers, but privacy and civil liberties campaigners have long raised concerns and want police to be banned from using it and similar sites. 'Lack of scrutiny' The Metropolitan Police has now blocked access to PimEyes on its official devices, although its officers do have access to other in-house facial recognition Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley came under pressure last year to explain a report that claimed his officers had used it more than 2,000 times in a 90-day including Liberty, Privacy International, Big Brother Watch and Refuge wrote to him, warning they had "serious concerns" that officers could be "exploiting" the site's AI tech "to track victims, witnesses and suspects absent of scrutiny". Det Insp Atkinson told the BBC the Burrows case demonstrated how sites like PimEyes "can play a vital role in bringing offenders to justice", although she said the force understood "the concerns that have been raised in relation to the use of online facial recognition systems".PimEyes has previously told the BBC it can help law enforcement agencies combat offences against children, human trafficking, terrorism and war Information Commissioners' Office watchdog said the use of facial recognition technology by police forces must be "necessary and proportionate, and its design must meet expectations of fairness and accuracy".It recently decided not to investigate Pimeyes, but said it was awaiting "with interest" the conclusion of legal proceedings against the site by data protection authorities in Pimeyes had identified Burrows, police were able to piece together what he'd been doing in Thailand, and how he got journalist Tim Newton used to meet Burrows at expat business events in Phuket."He was just good old Peter Smith and we all knew him like that - no one had any idea that he had any other name," he said."Peter - or Richard - kept this a total secret for the 27 years he was living on the island." Burrows started in Thailand teaching English, but moved into the media, working in advertising for a company that owns newspapers and bosses there have since said they knew nothing about his Police found Burrows's method of escape was surprisingly had applied for and obtained a genuine passport in the 1990s using his own photo but the name of an acquaintance called Peter Leslie Smith, who was terminally had then travelled on that passport and had it renewed multiple times without his real identity being rumbled. Getting Richard Burrows back to the UK was probably the easiest bit, because he came of his own free quickly discovered he had booked a flight from Thailand to Heathrow Airport, so they went to arrest him as he stepped off the plane in March later told his trial he had decided to come back because he had "run out of money".In his later years in Thailand he was living in a converted shipping container amid various rumours that he had been was convicted a year after he arrived back on British soil and 28 years after he had fled to Thailand - years which he later wrote had been "paradise".His victim, David, told the BBC he'd had to "bottle up" his emotions for decades."I'm really angry that he had 27 good years," he said. Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Independent
19-03-2025
- The Independent
Police use AI to capture paedophile after decades on the run
Former Scout leader Richard Burrows, 80, has been found guilty of 54 child sex offences after being on the run in Thailand for 27 years. Burrows abused 24 boys between 1968 and 1995 in Cheshire, West Midlands, and West Mercia. He fled the UK in 1997 using a stolen identity after being charged, evading capture despite Crimewatch appeals. Cheshire Police located Burrows in 2024 using AI facial recognition technology and a tip-off, leading to his arrest upon arrival at Heathrow Airport. The 'specialist software' used by detectives was reportedly the mass facial recognition search engine PimEyes, which scoured the internet to find anyone matching a digitally altered mugshot of Burrows.
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Police FOI unit dubbed 'authoritarian censor'
A national policing unit has been criticised for telling local forces to block the release of information under laws designed to safeguard the public's right to National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has advised forces not to reveal information on topics including the use of banned surveillance software and the spread of super-strength drugs, the BBC has group Big Brother Watch said the NPCC team – known as the central referral unit (CRU) – was acting like an "authoritarian censor" rather than a public CRU said it acted in line with legislation and only recommended how local forces should respond to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. The BBC was alerted to the unit's involvement in local forces' FOI responses while researching the spread of potent synthetic forces - more than a third of the UK's total number - had given us details about crimes linked with the drugs, but then retracted their responses at the unit's unit argued the information would undermine national security as it could be exploited by drug subsequent investigation found the CRU had advised local forces on 1,706 occasions in the first three months of 2024 - equivalent to one in every 11 requests submitted to forces in that time. On another occasion, it cited concerns about "negative press" when advising forces to retract earlier responses and instead neither confirm nor deny if their officers had used the facial recognition search engine PimEyes, according to documents obtained by Liberty software has been banned by Scotland Yard. Jake Hurfurt, the head of research and investigations at Big Brother Watch, said pressurising police forces to retract data was "the practice of an authoritarian censor not an accountable public body"."It is alarming that the NPCC is going beyond giving advice to individual forces and instead seemingly orchestrating how every force responds to sensitive transparency requests," he CRU said it was legitimately discussing "negative press" or "media attention" when researching what information was already published, but those factors did not influence whether it favoured disclosure. It also said it had had a smaller volume of work in each year since 2020. What is Freedom of Information? FOI laws came into force in the UK in January 2005 and allow anyone to apply to government or public bodies to see information, such as crime statistics or details on those laws, citizens can ask for information from people in power - sometimes including details they might prefer had stayed a secret. The Freedom of Information Act presumes each request should lead to information being disclosed, unless a legal exemption applies. Our investigation revealed the CRU did not follow the so-called "applicant-blind principle" when responding to FOI principle states everyone should get the same level and quality of response, regardless of whether it is their first request or they use the act regularly in their CRU, however, recorded whether requesters were members of the media and their said it was not subject to the applicant-blind principle because it was only an advisor, but would stop the practice from March also said it could not share records of when it had conducted public interest tests or if and when it had favoured the disclosure of information that was in the spirit of FOI laws. Akiko Hart, director of human rights advocacy group Liberty, said: "It's incredibly concerning that police have continually tried to downplay, hide and rescind information that is in the public interest."At a time when public trust in police is at an all-time low, transparency in their actions has never been more important. The police have a statutory duty to provide information held by them when requested by the public and journalists, and must not try to circumvent this."In 2022, an independent review was conducted into a separate government unit that advised other departments on their FOI responses. The review found poor practice and recommended the unit's so-called Clearing House was part of the Cabinet Office. It was alleged to have profiled journalists and treated their FOI requests review rejected its approach of circulating the names of requesters who had asked the same questions of several departments – a so-called round robin requester – to help it coordinate similar government's response was to say it would pilot a new system "immediately", but the BBC found the NPCC's CRU still matched names to round robin requests 18 months after the Clearing House recommendations were published. Claire Miller, former data journalism editor and an expert in FOI, said further investigation was needed as the CRU did not seem to be "operating within the spirit of the FOI Act.""It does not seem to have taken on board the criticisms of and recommendations for the Clearing House, which perhaps it should have done," she said. The NPCC declined to give an interview but instead issued a Constable Rob Carden, its digital, data and technology lead, said: "Policing is firmly committed to being open and transparent. Compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is one important way we remain accountable to the public."We always strive to share as much as we can in our responses with a presumption to disclose. However, there are circumstances where information cannot be disclosed and needs to be redacted, and on occasions withheld, to ensure police can continue to use tactics to protect the public or to prevent sensitive information being exploited by criminals to cause harm. These instances are strictly sanctioned with clear parameters, as set out in legislation."He said complaints about how forces applied the FOI Act could be referred to the Information Commisioner's Office (ICO).A spokeperson for the ICO said the data watchdog had used its powers "proactively numerous times" in the last two years to ensure police forces were said: "We will continue to take action when necessary, including keeping under review whether any central co-ordination in this sector is having a negative impact on compliance with the law when we examine the complaints that come to us." Author Martin Rosenbaum, a former FOI lead for the BBC, said the performance of police forces when it came to handling FOI requests had "seriously deteriorated"."The ICO has taken enforcement action against 15 police forces because of their FOI failings, which is more than one in three forces nationally, and is the worst record of any part of the public sector," he and South Yorkshire police were among the forces issued with enforcement notices in 2024 for failing to answer requests within the 20 days set out by law. The ICO spokesperson said there was nothing to stop public bodies like the police seeking advice from a central body on how to correctly interpret the law, but it must not stop them meeting deadlines for responses or any other FOI data journalism: Paul Bradshaw More about this storyThe Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to news organisations across the media industry, as part of a partnership between the BBC and the News Media more about the Local News Partnerships here.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Head of the USAID Reportedly Stormed Capitol on Jan. 6
USAID, the nation's primary distributor of foreign aid, remains in DOGE purgatory. Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has agreed to shut it down, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the agency will be absorbed by the State Department. Rubio on Monday tapped State Department Director of Foreign Assistance Pete Marocco to take over USAID. Marocco, a former Trump appointee and longtime critic of USAID, was pushed out of the agency during Trump's first term. He also was allegedly photographed storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. According to NBC News, in 2023 'online sleuths who aided the FBI in cases against hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters identified Marocco and his now-wife as being among the rioters who stormed the Capitol in 2021.' The online group Sedition Hunters — which worked to identify participants in the Capitol riot using open source research and facial recognition technology — alleged in November that Marocco and his wife, Merritt Corrigan, entered the Capitol during the riot through a broken window. The pair were allegedly identified using their clothing, jewelry, and the facial recognition software PimEyes. In a November statement to D Magazine, Marocco did not address questions about his alleged participation in the attempted insurrection, but claimed that he was being subjected to 'petty smear tactics and desperate personal attacks by politicians with no solutions.' Marocco was never charged with offenses related to the assault on the Capitol. The Trump loyalist had a tumultuous career in various foreign policy jobs during the president's first administration. Marocco was reportedly ousted from jobs at the Department of Defense, State Department, and Department of Commerce after clashing with coworkers and officials. In 2020, high-level USAID officials wrote a 13-page memo scorching Marocco — then an assistant to the administrator at the USAID Office of Transition Initiatives — accusing him of leveraging his position to benefit his personal political goals over the agency's mandate. Marocco would frequently 're-litigate decisions or commitments, revoke long-delegated authorities in favor of his personal control, or both,' the memo read, adding that he 'has leveraged once-routine administrative processes to reopen previously-approved plans, interrogate and redirect country programs, halt movement on programs, procurements, and people, and inject uncertainty into daily operations and office planning.' 'There has been and continues to be significant waste of USG resources because of [Marroco's] directives and decisions. Taxpayer dollars are being wasted through hundreds of USG staff hours squandered on unproductive or duplicative tasks, midstream activity cancellations, ill-advised program pivots, interventions in the PSC contracting process, and in the potential legal liabilities created by [Marroco's] actions,' officials added. Marocco left the agency shortly after, and his return is doing little to temper the frustration of agency staff. 'What he's doing now is frighteningly similar to everything he was trying to do at USAID before, but this time he's destroying it,' one USAID official told NBC News on Tuesday. 'He hasn't been responsible for building anything ever. He's very good at turning things off and questioning things and making people feel uncomfortable. He's taken apart a lot of things,' said another staffer. Marocco isn't the only questionable Trump loyalist Rubio has brought into the State Department in the past few days. Earlier this week, Semafor reported that disgraced former White House speechwriter Darren Beattie would be tapped to serve as acting under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs. Beattie, who was fired from the White House in 2016 after attending a white nationalist conference, has a long history of making racist statements on his social media. 'Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men,' Beattie wrote just last October. While Marocco was allegedly participating in the riot on Jan. 6, Beattie was tweeting at prominent Black political figures and commentators that it was time for them to 'learn' their 'place' and 'bend the knee to MAGA.' According to posts identified Tuesday by CNN's KFile, in October 2021, Beattie mocked the very agency he has now been appointed to. 'Imagine having respect for the State Department,' he wrote. More from Rolling Stone Inside Trump and Musk's Clumsy, 'Exhausting' Hunt for Leakers Trump Claims Victory Over Canada, Mexico After Getting ... Basically Nothing Trump Drains California's Most Precious Resource for a Photo Op Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
