Former scout leader and boarding school housemaster Richard Burrows, who evaded British justice by living in Thailand for 27 years under a false identity, has had his UK prison sentence reduced to 38 years.
Burrows, 83, was originally jailed for 46 years in April after being convicted of sexual offences against 24 boys between the late 1960s and mid-1990s. A Court of Appeal ruling in June changed a nine-year term for attempted buggery and made it concurrent with his other sentences.
The offences were committed in England, not Thailand, where Burrows used a false passport identity to live in the country for decades after leaving the UK.
27 years in Thailand under false name
Burrows fled Britain in 1997 before he was due to stand trial. He had been arrested and charged with offences which he denied, but failed to attend a pre-trial plea and preparation hearing on 8 December that year.
He travelled to Thailand as Peter Leslie Smith, having taken an acquaintance's identity and used it to obtain a passport. He remained in Thailand for the next 27 years.
After running out of money, Burrows returned to Britain and was detained at Heathrow Airport in March 2024. Police bodycam footage later showed the elderly man, using a walking stick, being arrested after landing and placed in a wheelchair.
In March, a jury found him guilty of 54 offences, including four counts of buggery, which would now be charged as rape. He had also pleaded guilty to 43 counts, including offences involving indecent images of children and four charges relating to passports held under a false name.
Appeal changes how term is served
At Chester Crown Court, prosecutors said Burrows abused boys aged 10 to 15 while holding positions of trust. These included working as a housemaster at Danesford Children's Home in Congleton between 1969 and 1971, as well as roles connected to scout groups, amateur radio clubs and a children's home.
His victims in the West Midlands and West Mercia areas were abused between 1968 and 1995, Cheshire Police said, with most targeted through local scout groups where he was a team leader.
At the appeal hearing, Burrows' lawyers argued that two offences should not have been separated and that the overall sentence was excessive. Lord Justice Edis, Mr Justice Choudhury and Mrs Justice Norton DBE rejected the first argument but found the sentence was not "just or proportionate".
The attempted buggery sentence was substituted from consecutive to concurrent, meaning it will run at the same time as the other prison terms. Burrows, who has cancer, is considered unlikely to reach a stage at which he could be considered for release.
Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson described him as a "prolific sex offender" and said he had fled abroad rather than face the consequences of his actions. Four of his victims have died without seeing him brought to justice.
Pictures courtesy of The Daily Mall
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19 July 2026
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