Paedophile who spent 27 years on the run guilty of dozens of child sexual abuse offences
A former boarding school housemaster and scout leader has been found guilty of 97 offences, including dozens of historical child sexual abuse offences.
Richard Burrows spent 27 years on the run, living in what he described as “paradise”, after fleeing the UK when he was due to appear in court in 1997.
He was arrested at Heathrow Airport on his return from Thailand on the eve of his 80th birthday last March.
Richard Burrows. Pic: Cheshire Police
Burrows, who lived in the southern Thailand province of Phuket, told family he had come back to face his accusers and his maker – police say the truth was that he simply had run out of money.
He had previously admitted dozens of offences dating from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s.
The jury at Chester Crown Court heard that Burrows systematically abused boys with whom he came into contact.
Burrows had admitted 43 offences – and denied 54 others, which jurors convicted him of on Monday.
Mark Connor KC said: “He obtained positions of trust and responsibility which he breached to satisfy himself sexually with the youngsters.”
Burrows had worked as a housemaster at a school for troubled teenagers in Cheshire in the 1960s. He was later involved with the scouts and amateur radio clubs in the Midlands.
Richard Burrows was met by police at Heathrow
Victim describes ‘despicable, evil human being’
James Harvey was 13 or 14 when he was befriended by Burrows through his involvement with the sea scouts. Burrows admitted indecently assaulting James in a caravan after visiting an RAF show.
James has waived his right to anonymity as a victim of a sexual offence.
He told Sky News: “The reason I’m doing this is to at least put a face to the real children who from the age of 10, 12, 13, put their trust in this man. I want his name to be trashed in the world for everybody that ever knew him and thought that he was okay.
“I think he’s pathetic in the true sense of the word. His impulses and emotions have driven everything that he’s done probably throughout the whole of his life and have left him looking like a shambling, despicable, evil human being that could casually over 60 years do this to children and still wake up in the morning and find a way of justifying it.
“I think he’s pathetic, I think he’s weak. There is nothing about this man that deserves anything other than loathing.”
James Harvey has waived his right to anonymity
Accusers came forward after Crimewatch appeal
During his trial, Burrows admitted being a paedophile but denied the more serious allegations, describing them as “degrading and disgusting”.
The court heard that Burrows believed his actions had done no harm to the children.
As he planned his return to the UK last year, he told his brother that “not all paedophiles are the same”.
“I just think that’s a disgusting comment to make,” detective inspector Eli Atkinson of Cheshire Police told Sky News.
“What we see when we talk to the victims is that it absolutely did do harm. For the vast majority of them, that is their first sexual experience at the age of nine, ten, eleven, twelve, that affects a person for the rest of their life.”
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Paedophile’s life in Thailand
Burrows, who is originally from Sutton Coldfield, was first arrested in April 1997 and charged with child sexual offences. When he failed to appear at Chester Crown Court that December, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Over the years, police made numerous televised appeals for help to track down Burrows on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme. It prompted more accusers to come forward.
But Burrows had left the UK. He obtained a passport using the name Peter Leslie Smith having cloned the identity of an unwell acquaintance.
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During a routine reappraisal of the case, police used facial recognition software to confirm that “Smith” was in fact Burrows, and that he was living openly in Thailand.
When they became aware of his plans to return to the UK, police allowed Burrows to travel on his fake passport so he could be arrested as he touched down.
Cheshire Police say they are not able to say whether Burrows might have offended during his time living abroad.
DI Atkinson said it is possible there are other victims who have not come forward.
“There may well be. There’s a lot of reasons why people have really difficult decisions to make as to whether they come forward in cases like this.
“It would not surprise me if, given the length of time that he offended over and the level of offending, if there were more people out there who were victims of him.”
James Harvey has questions over why Burrows was granted bail in 1997. He also wonders whether he could have done more to report him earlier.
“People listening to me now might think ‘Oh, I’d behave differently’ but we had no language, no framework, no understanding, no imagination that this same person had done to us, would go on and do something so much worse to somebody else.
“It is almost impossible for me to sit here and say I wish I had done that. There was no way that I could, literally. We lived in this kind of unbelievable ignorance and innocence that there were predators like this living in every single one of our institutions.”
Burrows has now been convicted. Some of his accusers died before seeing him finally face justice.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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