How AI and a mole helped capture paedophile ex-Scout leader after being on the run in Thailand for 27 years
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Police use AI to capture paedophile after decades on the run
- Former Scout leader Richard Burrows, 80, has been found guilty of 54 child sex offences after being on the run in Thailand for 27 years.
- Burrows abused 24 boys between 1968 and 1995 in Cheshire, West Midlands, and West Mercia.
- He fled the UK in 1997 using a stolen identity after being charged, evading capture despite Crimewatch appeals.
- Cheshire Police located Burrows in 2024 using AI facial recognition technology and a tip-off, leading to his arrest upon arrival at Heathrow Airport.
- The “specialist software” used by detectives was reportedly the mass facial recognition search engine PimEyes, which scoured the internet to find anyone matching a digitally altered mugshot of Burrows.