What's interesting about it is that the police were waiting for him on arrival at Heathrow. The full article says: 'British National Crime Agency claim they had tracked ‘Peter Smith’s’ movements and prearranged his arrest upon entering the UK', which is exactly what happened.
So let's suppose that a liaison officer from BNRA in Thailand paid Burrows a visit and whispered in his ear something along these lines.
"We know who you are Mr. Burrows and we shall be seeking your arrest via an International Arrest Warrant. When that happens, you shall arrested by the Thai police and will end up one of their, rather less than pleasant detention centres awaiting extradition proceedings.
''Your choice Burrows, fly home now and surrender to the police there, or await arrest here and take the hard route home''.
I know which option I would take.