A prolific sex offender who stole an innocent man’s identity and spent almost three decades on the run has been found guilty of numerous sexual offences against young boys.
Richard Burrows was found guilty of 54 offences on Monday 17 March 2025 at Chester Crown Court, including indecent assault of boys, buggery, attempted buggery and indecency with a child.
The 80-year-old, of HMP Altcourse, had already pleaded guilty to 43 offences, including indecent assault of boys, making indecent images of children, possession of indecent images of children and four counts of possession of false identity documents with intent, at an earlier hearing.
Burrows has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Monday 7 April for a total of 97 offences.
The court heard how between 1968 and 1995 Burrows systematically abused 24 young boys across the Cheshire, West Midlands and West Mercia areas.
The offences in Cheshire occurred between 1969 and 1971 while he was working 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 also all young boys who 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 over them and their personal interests, such as radio communications or boating. After gaining their trust, and in many cases the trust of their families, Burrows then went on to sexually abuse the boys.
After survivors came forward, a police investigation led to Burrows being charged. It was while he was out on bail in 1997 that he disappeared.
Despite numerous appeals for information and appeals on Crimewatch, police were unable to locate him.
It wasn’t until April 2023 when detectives from the Cheshire Police Force’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit used specialist software to search for any possible images of Burrows online that he was located.
After searching through billions of images, the system came back with a match for a man using the name of Peter Smith who was living in Chalong in Phuket, Thailand.
Officers discovered that Burrows had stolen the name Peter Smith from an acquaintance who was terminally ill. This allowed him to fraudulently obtain a ‘genuine’ passport in 1997 and so leave the country without detection.
Officers then learned that Burrows was intending to travel back to the UK under his Peter Smith alias. And he was arrested as soon as he landed at Heathrow.
Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson, who had led the investigation, said, “Our determination to locate Burrows over the past 27 years has not faltered and I welcome the verdict reached by the jury.
“It is clear that he is a prolific sex offender. He systematically abused his victims, specifically targeting vulnerable boys in order to fulfil his own sexual gratification.
“Following his initial charges in 1997, Burrows knew he was guilty but rather than face the consequences of his actions, he acted like a coward and fled the country using a stolen identity taken from an unwell man.
“While his victims will never be able to forget what happened to them, I hope that the fact that Burrows has now been held accountable will finally provide them with some closure. Sadly, four of his victims have now passed away and so did not get to see justice served.”
If you have suffered abuse or would like to discuss experiences at the hands of Richard Burrows, please contact our specialist child abuse solicitor, Charles Derham on the following: