Paedophile scoutmaster has years taken off prison sentence after ‘judge’s error’ | UK | News
The nine-year prison sentence of a pedophile scoutmaster who spent nearly three decades on the run in Thailand “living in paradise” was shortened due to a judge’s error. Former boarding school headmaster and scout leader Richard Burrows, 83, was first sentenced to 46 years in prison in April for a series of horrific sexual offenses against 24 boys in his care from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s.
Burrows, who escaped justice by fleeing to Thailand in 1997, was found guilty of 54 charges by a jury in March. These included four charges of “robbery”, charges that would be prosecuted as rape under modern British law. The depraved predator, who is expected to die behind bars, also admitted 43 charges, including four charges of possessing indecent images of children and obtaining a passport under a false name. It has now emerged that Burrows, who was finally caught after returning to Britain in 2024, had his nine-year prison sentence quietly quashed due to a sentencing error.
The reduction followed a hearing by Burrows’ defense team in the Court of Appeals in June; Here, Burrows’ defense team argued that the trial judge made a mistake in separating the two crimes. They claimed that, looking at the case as a whole, the massive 46-year sentence was “manifestly excessive”.
Senior appeal judges Lord Justice Edis, Mr Justice Choudhury and Mrs Justice Norton DBE dismissed the first part of the challenge. But ultimately they agreed with Burrows’ lawyers that the total sentence was neither “fair nor proportionate.” As a result, judges overturned a nine-year sentence linked to a single attempted burglary.
The sentence, which was originally ordered to run consecutively with his other crimes, was commuted to a concurrent sentence. Burrows’ final sentence has been reduced to 38 years, as it will now be served at exactly the same time, according to court documents viewed by the Liverpool Echo.
It is almost certain that Burrows, who has cancer, will not reach a stage where his release could be considered.
Burrows became one of Britain’s most wanted fugitives when he was released on bail in December 1997. After stealing the identity of an acquaintance to obtain a fake passport, he fled to Thailand under the alias “Peter Leslie Smith” and lived undetected for 27 years. His decades-long fugitive finally came to an end in March 2024, when he ran out of money and flew to the United Kingdom, where border police arrested the fragile predator at Heathrow Airport.
His horrific crimes date back to his time as house manager at Danesford Children’s Home in Cheshire between 1969 and 1971. He also targeted young boys in the West Midlands and West Mercia between 1968 and 1995, primarily using his role as local scout leader to exploit children aged 10 to 15.
In court, Burrows showed no remorse and bizarrely told jurors he was a “good pedophile” who “liked boys” and claimed he had not harmed them.
Cheshire Police Detective Inspector Eleanor Atkinson branded Burrows a “coward” who spent decades “living in paradise” while his victims suffered.
Tragically, police confirmed that four of Burrows’ victims died before they could see him face justice.
