Judge tells victims of fugitive paedophile: ‘Only one person to blame’
Richard Burrows, who spent 27 years on the run, was convicted of multiple child sex offences.
A judge has told victims of a paedophile former scout leader and school housemaster that only one person was at fault for the abuse they suffered.
The Honorary Recorder of Chester, Judge Steven Everett, made the remark at the sentencing hearing of 81-year-old Richard Burrows, who systematically abused 24 young boys across the Cheshire, West Midlands and West Mercia areas between 1968 and 1995.
Burrows spent 27 years on the run using a stolen identity as he fled to Thailand after he failed to attend a court hearing at Chester Crown Court in December 1997 to face allegations of child sexual abuse.
He was arrested in March last year after he flew to Heathrow Airport when he ran out of money and was suffering from cancer.
He was charged with further offences which had been reported after he disappeared.
Last month, Burrows was found guilty by a jury at Chester Crown Court of 54 offences including indecent assault of boys, buggery, attempted buggery and indecency with a child.
He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to another 43 offences including indecent assault, making indecent images of children, possession of indecent images of children and four counts of possession of false identity documents with intent.
His offending in Cheshire took place between 1969 and 1971 while he was employed 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 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.
On Tuesday, numerous victim personal statements were read out at Chester Crown Court, including some from the witness box as they faced the perpetrator as he watched on from the dock wearing headphones.
One told the court that Burrows had “stripped away my humanity” after he was taken away to the defendant’s tent on his first camping trip with the Scouts and subjected to an eight-hour ordeal.
He said he twice attempted to take his own life and felt “perpetual trauma, shame and despair”.
Judge Everett told him: “You have done nothing to be ashamed of.”
Another victim said at the time he hid the abuse from his parents, could not tell any of his friends or trust a grown-up any more.
He said: “I had no-one to turn to and just internalised it all. It totally affected my future relationships and behaviour.
“Even now I keep going through my head: ‘Why did you assault me? I looked up to you.'”
Judge Everett told him: “I want to be crystal clear. There is only one person at fault here and he is sitting opposite me in the dock.
“I suspect every single person in the courtroom, bar one, feels totally sorry for you.”
The court heard Burrows was dismissed from Danesford Children’s Home after one of his victims, who has since died, complained at the time that he had been indecently assaulted.
He later told police in 1995 that he thought he was not believed at the time and added: “I believe deep inside Mr Burrows should be prosecuted and it should have happened a long time ago.”
At trial, Burrows denied all the offences at Danesford as he claimed his change in career path was an effort to do good rather than seek out more victims.
Phil Clemo, defending, said: “Putting it bluntly, whatever sentence your honour passes, he is going to die in prison.
“He spent 27 years in Thailand in a pleasant setting. The reality is his last days will be on the prison estate somewhere.
“He, of course, respects the verdicts of the jury even though he does not agree with it. He does accept on the matters he has always accepted and knows he has caused incredible suffering.”
Judge Everett replied: “I didn’t see much of that during the trial.
“He used the truly obnoxious saying ‘good and bad paedophiles’. I have a feeling that the jury was repulsed by that.
“His view was that a good paedophile did things which did not harm and a bad one does cause harm.
“That thought process is so warped it is difficult to understand.”
Mr Clemo continued: “There were moments when there were tears, not before the jury…”
The judge said: “There were tears in front of the jury but they were only tears for himself. As a person he deserves no sympathy whatsoever.”
Burrows was further remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing on Wednesday.
