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.
Last March he was arrested after he flew to Heathrow airport when he ran out of money.
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.