Shortly before Christmas in 1997, Richard Burrows vanished from the face of the earth.
The former scoutmaster – who later worked at a children’s home – had been due in court charged with a string of sex offences against 11 boys.
When he failed to attend, police launched a manhunt, circulating his mugshot to forces across the country.
But despite multiple appeals over the ensuing decades – including on the BBC‘s Crimewatch programme – and the digital updating of his photograph to show how he could look as an old man, no trace was found.
The trail went completely cold for more than a quarter of a century – until a simple piece of desktop research provided a breakthrough.
Officers at Cheshire Police ran the manipulated mugshot through facial recognition program Pimeyes.
After searching through billions of photos online it unexpectedly came up with a match in the form of Peter Smith, a British ex-pat living in Thailand.
The 79-year-old with an uncanny resemblance to the fugitive had for many years been a prominent media salesman and map-maker on the idyllic island of Phuket.
Richard Burrows spent almost 30 years on the run despite numerous appeals being made to track him down
Burrows pictured in Thailand with two young men. He lived under a fake name stolen from a terminally ill acquaintance
Burrows’ time in Thailand came to an end after he moved into this dingy converted shipping container – before concluding the game was up and returning to Britain
Multiple online photographs showed him rubbing shoulders with fellow ex-pats at drinks receptions and even sailing events attended by members of the Thai royal family.
Indeed a close business associate praised ‘Smith’ as being ‘perfectly suited’ to the task of ‘building relationships and trust’ with clients.
Back in England, officers researched Peter Smith’s past – and discovered he had flown to Thailand at around the same time Richard Burrows vanished, never to return.
They had finally got their man after 27 years.
But before extradition proceedings could get underway, they received a tip-off that ‘Peter Smith’ had boarded a flight to Heathrow.
Arrested on arrival on March 28 last year and taken away in a wheelchair, the frail paedophile – by now suffering from cancer and a heart condition – appeared in court the next day to admit he was really Richard Burrows.
Burrows faces dying behind bars after he was found guilty of 54 child sex offences by a jury at Chester Crown Court on Monday, having already pleaded guilty to 43 crimes at an earlier hearing.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on April 7 for the 97 offences.
Burrows later told police he had returned home from the island he described as ‘paradise’ in order to ‘make amends with the families and his maker’ and pay for his sins.
However a Daily Mail investigation into how the predator managed to ‘hide in plain sight’ for over two-and-a-half decades has uncovered clues which suggest he knew the game would soon be up.
Most pointedly, at a farewell party held by prominent local ex-pats before he flew back after running out of money to pay for his mounting medical needs, one guest recalls Burrows saying it was ‘time to face the music’.
Our investigation has also established how some of those who came to count ‘Peter Smith’ as a friend and valued colleague had their suspicions that he may have been hiding a dark past.
And it uncovered his downfall from a successful salesman who was ‘treated like a VIP’ by fellow ex-pats to struggling through retirement while living with a young Thai man in a dingy converted shipping container.
With its white gold beaches and rainforest-covered mountains, Thailand’s largest island is a magnet for foreigners looking to move to a tropical paradise.
According to the story that ‘Peter Smith’ put about in Phuket, he had come to Thailand with the intention of ‘retiring on the ocean waves’.
This is the moment the evil paedophile was arrested when he landed at Heathrow Airport in March 2024
Cheshire Police released images of Burrows in Thailand, where he fled to before his trial in 1997
Cheshire Police matched facial features between ‘Peter Smith’ and Richard Burrows to help snare him
Burrows arriving at Chester Crown Court during his trial last week – after he finally returned to the UK to face justice
Friends who knew Burrows in Thailand said they had suspected he may have been hiding a dark past
Burrows fled to Thailand under the false name of Peter Smith – where he lived out his life amongst fellow ex-pats who had no idea of his horrific past
Inspired by a trip to Southampton Boat Show he had bought a yacht and sailed to the island – only to discover that he was no helmsman, and that he needed a job to earn enough to remain in Phuket.
In reality he had stolen the identity of a terminally ill acquaintance by the name of Peter Leslie Smith in order to evade justice for preying on boys.
In a sinister move given his history of child abuse, Burrows exploited his false new identity to set himself up as an English teacher.
He later became an advertising salesman at English-language magazine publisher Image Asia, giving him access to a network of fellow ex-pats.
Former business colleagues told how ‘Peter Smith’ would be at ‘every media function, product launch or party’, rubbing shoulders with community leaders and Thai police.
Testament to his networking is the almost 700 friends on his Facebook profile, called ‘Peter’s in Phuket’.
A fulsome tribute printed by the publisher on his retirement in 2017 was headlined ‘the end of an era’.
Ironically the piece describes ‘Smith’ as having been ‘perfectly suited’ to the task of ‘building relationships and trust’ with clients.
‘I’m not sure what would have happened had I not been able to convince Peter to join out – at the time – very small team,’ Image Asia founder and managing director Grenville Fordham said at the time.
‘But I do know that life would have been very different over the past decade and a half.’
It was in this role that he met ten-year-old Peerawit Suwanrattanaphume, younger brother of one of his colleagues, who would remain close to ‘Smith’ right up until he left Thailand.
Speaking exclusively to the Mail, Peerawit – known as Ann – claimed ‘Smith’ had an illicit sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy while in Thailand, resulting in his being extorted.
Friends in Phuket suspect that the sexual interest ‘Peter Smith’ showed in boys and young Thai men – his homosexuality was an open secret – placed him in compromising situations.
They told the Mail this was how he went from owning a comfortable house to living in the cramped container.
Burrows – seen here wearing a nametag reading ‘Peter’ – had arrived in Phuket intending to live out his life on the sea, he told fellow ex-pats
Burrows pictured with Peerawit Suwanrattanaphume, whom he met at 10 years old. Peerawit told MailOnline he had never been Burrows’ lover, but had known him to have relationships with boys
Burrows lived in plain sight in Thailand while never letting on about his dark past as a paedophile (pictured celebrating his birthday)
‘Peter once had an affair with a 15-year-old boy,’ Peerawit said.
‘He didn’t tell me much but I know that he paid this boy a lot of money.
‘This boy often made him buy things and asked for money to use.’
Following his retirement, Burrows sold his house in Phuket for about 4million Thai Bhat (£85,000) as well as his car, Peerawit said.
He moved 700 miles away into a shipping container in a forested area close to the border with Laos.
The ostensible reason for the dramatic move was that a family he had befriended after paying for their children’s schooling apparently suggested he retired to the remote spot.
But friends said that when he arrived, they wanted nothing to do with him as he was no longer able to give them money.
‘When he got there they snubbed him,’ said a former friend who worked in Phuket’s lucrative yacht tours industry.
‘They over all the years took his help and money, and once he retired they didn’t want to know him. The money tree had stopped.’
‘Peter told me that he was very lonely,’ Peerawit told the Mail.
Burrows therefore rented a spot for the cramped 45ft unit in Chalong on Phuket island and spent his last years as ‘Peter Smith’ there living with Peerawit, by now aged 24.
Ex-pats who visited the container became used to a pretence around his lovers.
‘Everyone I am sure knew he was gay and he did have some young adult Thai boyfriends, but behind closed doors,’ said the yachting friend.
‘If he was visited the friend usually was introduced and went for a walk.
‘He was gay but they were all adults he was with.
‘He didn’t flaunt it, but at the same time didn’t go out of his way to hide it.’
Burrows eventually told friends he would have to ‘face the music’. They would only learn who he really was after he left Thailand
Richard Burrows pictured inside the converted shipping container he latterly called home close to the Laos border
Burrows lived his life away from justice for almost 30 years – even celebrating Christmas with fellow ex-pats
According to Peerawit – who denies ever being the fugitive’s lover – one night Burrows blurted out that he thought British police were hiding underneath the container because he had heard ‘somebody knocking underneath’.
‘They had come to bring him back to the UK,’ Peerawit said.
‘I told him there is no-one, no police here.’
On another occasion a friend found Burrows ‘convulsing on the floor’ after apparently taking an overdose.
Peerawit said he cared for Burrows in exchange for his previous ‘good deeds’.
‘He eventually sold the container to his friend to return to England because he thought he could get a pension there,’ he added.
‘But before he could return to England he found out he had cancer.
‘He thought that he might not have long to live, but he wanted to go back and see England before he had the chance.’
According to Peerawit, one of Burrows’ dreams was to while away his twilight years on a canal boat in the English countryside.
Recalling how he got to know Burrows while still a child, Peerawit said: ‘Peter took care of me and my twin brother by taking us out to eat every week and taking us to buy school supplies. He is like a second father to me.’
When in the days before online mapping ‘Peter Smith’ led a project at Image Asia to draw up Phuket’s first street plan, Peerawit helped with Thai spellings.
‘In every event in Phuket I went with him, and everyone treated him very special, like a VIP,’ he added.
‘They seemed to like him a lot.’
The yacht industry friend added: ‘He produced the first street directory of Phuket well before Google Maps were available and did a lot of other useful things.
‘He created the whole thing driving around with a GPS record and marking all the streets.’
Burrows – amazingly – sat on the committee of the British Businessmen’s Association of Phuket, itself affiliated to the Thailand British Chamber of Commerce, according to fellow ex-pats.
Friends told MailOnline they were certain Burrows was gay – but had no idea of his sexual interest in children
The paedophile deceived everyone he knew in Thailand for 27 years after fleeing Britain
Burrows ultimately ran out of money in Thailand – and lost friends who no longer wanted anything to do with him
He also worked for the organisers of Phuket Raceweek, the international sailing regatta held annually on the island, often proudly wearing a polo shirt baring its logo.
‘Peter had us all fooled,’ another long-time business acquaintance told the Mail.
‘He was absolutely hiding in plain sight. It’s unbelievable.
‘Everyone was in complete disbelief when they found out. It’s just extraordinary.’
The ex-pat added: ‘What amazes us is that Peter managed to get a work permit.
‘He would have needed a business visa, quite apart from a UK passport. Thai immigration are very strict about work permits.
‘So everything must have seemed totally legit. That’s what amazes us.
‘How did he get a British passport in the name of Peter Smith? How did he get to Phuket?
‘And once he got there, how did he manage to get it renewed? He would have had to go to the British embassy in Bangkok every five years.
‘Everything points to the British authorities being at fault, not the Thai ones.
‘It’s very embarrassing considering the regard in which British passports are meant to be held around the world.’
In August 2023 Burrows put the container home up for sale with an asking price of 850,000 Thai Bhat (£18,000).
He is understood to have told friends he was in poor health, and with his money running out could not afford to stay in Thailand.
‘Perhaps he thought that even in custody he’d get better healthcare than in Thailand?’ said one acquaintance.
‘Apparently friends said he should stay in Thailand, they could hold a few raffles, raise money that way.
‘He seemed happy to go back by all accounts.’
Burrows found out he had cancer – prompting him to consider surrendering to UK authorities so he could see England one more time
He eventually sold the converted shipping container so he could return to Britain in the hopes of getting a pension – but was arrested as he stepped off the plane
Burrows had sought out refuge in Phuket after purchasing a yacht (file image of Pa Tong Beach, a resort town on the island)
Around 20 successful ex-pats attended a farewell party for ‘Peter Smith’ on March 27 last year before he left Thailand for good.
He left behind gifts, including his favourite possession, a framed carving of a family of elephants, which he gave Peerawit along with the inscription: ‘To Ann with all my love from Peter.’
Peerawit told the Mail he was ‘shocked beyond imagination’ when he heard ‘Smith’ had been arrested on arrival.
However one ex-pat said that in retrospect there was one ‘giveaway’ at the farewell party.
‘That was a comment he made to someone – “Time to face the music”.’
‘He knew he was going to get grabbed when he got back.’
On March 28 last year Burrows arrived at Heathrow Airport at 6.24pm having flown from Thailand via Abu Dhabi using his ‘Peter Smith’ passport.
Cheshire Police were already tracking him after establishing his true identity.
They had also been informed of his intention to return to the UK by his brother – ironically actually named Peter himself.
He was met by police officers, confirming he was really Richard Burrows.
Arrested for failing to appear at court in 1997, he said: ‘All I want is a lawyer, thank you for doing it sensitively.’
His baggage was searched and three expired passports were found, all in the name of Peter Leslie Smith.
Richard Burrows pictured with Peerawit. The young Thai man lived with Burrows for a time before the paedophile returned to Britain
A carving of elephants Burrows gifted to Peerawit, who went by Ann. The inscription reads: ‘To Ann, with all my love, from Peter’
Burrows emerging from a prison transport van at court last week. An ex-pat said of his decades-long deception: ‘How did he pull it off?’
There was also a print-out of an email exchange with his brother making clear he’d watched the Crimewatch appeals on YouTube from Phuket.
In the message, repellent Burrows claimed he had ‘loved the boys and took very good care of them and never forced them to do anything’.
He added: ‘Not all paedophiles are the same. Seems that many police are homophobic.’
Prosecutors said there was evidence Burrows was an ‘unrepentant paedophile’ who ‘placed his sexual needs above any impact on the children he abused’.
The email concludes with Burrows telling his brother: ‘Again, thank you so much for coming to my aid to get back to [the] UK after almost 30 years in paradise.’
The question for one ex-pat who knew ‘Peter Smith’ for years is: ‘How did he pull it off?’
‘He must have spent the whole time pinching himself that he’d actually got away with his disappearing act, and for such a long time.
‘As far as anyone knew he was just Peter Smith, no-one was any the wiser.’
Following his arrest, Image Asia founder Mr Fordham told Phuket News: ‘Nobody who knew “Peter” here would have guessed he was wanted for such dreadful crimes.
‘He was a very well-liked Phuket expat with a wide circle of friends.’
Throughout his 15 years with the business, Burrows was a contractor operating through his own company, Image Asia said, meaning it was never involved in maintaining his legal status in Thailand.
Also left reeling are Burrows’ family in the UK.
‘We feel disgusted at what he did and hope that he gets convicted,’ a close relative told the Mail.
‘He was on Crimewatch every week for ages. It is incredible how he got away with it for so long.
‘We wanted him punished.’
Asked about the ease with which Burrows obtained a false passport in the 1990s, the Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases.
However sources insisted that checks today were ‘rigorous’ and continued to ‘evolve’.
Criminals who obtained passports fraudulently would ‘face the full consequences of the law’, they added.