Paedophile scoutmaster who spent 27 years on the run after fleeing to Thailand when he was due to appear in court is found guilty of dozens of child sex abuse offences

A paedophile who spent nearly three decades on the run in Thailand to escape going on trial in the UK was today convicted of dozens of historical sexual abuse offences. 

Richard Burrows, a former boarding school housemaster and scout leader, had admitted 43 offences already but denied 54 others, which jurors convicted him of at Chester Crown Court today.

The predator became one of the UK’s most wanted fugitives when he fled the country before his trial was due to take place in 1997, but he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in March last year after returning from Thailand.

Burrows, 80, was snared after he tried to re-enter the UK, having spent 27 years on the run under a false name in what he described as his ‘paradise’, a jury heard.

The court heard how between 1968 and 1995, Burrows systematically abused 26 young boys across the Cheshire, West Midlands and West Mercia areas. He will be sentenced for a total of 97 offences on April 7.

The prolific sex offender was originally arrested…