A paedophile scoutmaster who spent 27 years on the run in Thailand has had nine years shaved off his 46-year prison sentence after appeal judges found a sentencing error. Richard Burrows, 83, was originally jailed in April for a series of sexual offences against 24 boys committed between the late 1960s and mid-1990s. The reduction, confirmed by the Court of Appeal in June, lowers his term to 38 years.
Appeal judges quash nine-year consecutive sentence
Burrows' defence team argued that the trial judge erred by ordering two of the offences to run consecutively, making the total sentence 'manifestly excessive'. Senior appeal judges Lord Justice Edis, Mr Justice Choudhury, and Mrs Justice Norton DBE agreed that the 46-year term was 'neither just nor proportionate'. They overturned a nine-year sentence for one count of attempted buggery, substituting it with a concurrent term. As a result, Burrows' final sentence dropped to 38 years, according to court documents seen by the Liverpool Echo.
Burrows' crimes and flight from justice
Burrows, a former boarding school housemaster and scout leader, was convicted in March of 54 offences, including four counts of buggery—charges that would be prosecuted as rape under modern British law. He also pleaded guilty to 43 counts, including possessing indecent images of children and obtaining passports under a false name. His crimes spanned from 1968 to 1995, targeting boys aged 10 to 15 at Danesford Children's Home in Cheshire and across the West Midlands and West Mercia. In 1997, he skipped bail and fled to Thailand, living under the alias 'Peter Leslie Smith' for 27 years until he ran out of money and returned to the UK in March 2024. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport.
Victims and lack of remorse
In court, Burrows showed no remorse, telling jurors he was a 'good paedophile' who 'loved boys' and claimed he did not harm them. Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson of Cheshire Police called him a 'coward' who spent decades 'living in paradise' while his victims suffered. Tragically, police confirmed that four of Burrows' victims died before seeing him face justice. Despite the reduction, Burrows, who has cancer, is expected to die in prison, as the 38-year term makes release unlikely.
