Overview

• Richard Burrows systematically abused 24 boys between 1968 and 1995 while working as a scout leader and housemaster in the UK.
• He fled the UK in 1997 under a stolen identity and lived undetected in Thailand for 27 years before returning in 2024 due to financial and health issues.
• Detectives used advanced facial recognition software in 2023 to match Burrows to his alias in Phuket, leading to his eventual arrest at Heathrow Airport.
• In March 2025, a jury convicted him of 54 offences; he had already pleaded guilty to 43 others, totaling 97 charges of child sex abuse and related crimes.
• Four of Burrows's victims died before seeing justice, while survivors described lifelong trauma from his predatory actions.