WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: Vincent Chan, who worked at a £2,000-a-month nursery for seven years, filmed himself abusing youngsters in the ‘most disturbing’ case of child abuse in recent history
Families are facing the agonising possibility that they may never know if their child was one of the abused by a prolific paedophile who infiltrated their nursery.
Vincent Chan, who has today been sentenced to 18 years in prison, assaulted four youngsters at the nursery he worked at and secretly filmed up the skirts of primary school girls while working as a supply teacher. Chan was caught with more than one million child abuse images when he was finally caught after 17 years of offending, and was described as “utterly wicked, perverse and depraved” by the judge who sent him behind bars.
Police have since had to contact the families of 700 children thought to have passed through the nursery during his seven-year stint of employment, as well as the families of around 500 children who attended the school while Chan was there.
Detectives discovered a cache of more than 25,000 indecent images at his home after someone at the £2,000-a-month Bright Horizons nursery in West Hampstead alerted authorities to their concerns. They also found videos on iPads from the nursery that Chan had used. The nursery has since closed down.
There are potentially two child victims from the nursery who have not yet been identified, although Chan has been charged with making indecent images of them, as well as a girl who was upskirted and another who he secretly filmed.
The paedophile began working at the nursery in 2017, passing an advanced vetting process to become an “art specialist”. He went on to become a nursery nurse and then was even promoted to room leader, but asked to be demoted back to nursery nurse.
His duties included feeding, clothing, cleaning and interacting with the children, tasks that required a high degree of trust and safeguarding. He was first investigated in May 2024 after a colleague reported concerns about him making “disturbing and humiliating” videos of toddlers for his own amusement. Chan was quickly suspended from work. But it was only a year later, while police were investigating the child cruelty allegations, that they first found evidence of his child sexual abuse.
Evidence emerged that that the vile predator had been abusing sleeping children during naptime. Four little girls, aged two to four when the offending took place, have been identified as victims of sexual assault. Chan pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault by touching, 11 counts of taking an indecent image, and six counts of making an indecent photograph. A serious case review is underway to determine how he passed security checks and went undetected after getting the job in 2017.
Police also recovered images showing Chan exposing himself in the school in 2017, as well as videos depicting a solo sex act. He has also admitted a campaign of voyeurism between 2011 and 2023. Evidence of the sickening crimes were discovered on 69 devices seized by police in 2024.
It included secret filming of one girl over a three year period and footage of women going to the toilet taken with a hidden camera. He also filmed himself sexually assaulting an adult victim while she was asleep and superimposed the faces of ten women onto indecent images.
Today, the court heard a powerful statement from the families of the victims at Bright Horizons nursery. “The impact of Vincent Chan’s actions upon our entire community has been profound. The knowledge that he was not only capable of such acts but committed them against children within the nursery has created a permanent ache in our hearts.
“The lasting trauma of ‘what if’ is powerfully felt throughout our community because of Vincent Chan’s actions. It offers no closure, no reassurance, no healing and no point at which anxiety can safely end or be meaningfully processed. The fear we feel about the cruel violation of our children will never dissipate. Ordinary memories from early childhood are now tainted with doubt, anxiety and guilt.”
Commander Hayley Sewart said the case was “one of the most significant and disturbing child protection investigations in recent history”. She added: “The inquiry has revealed a pattern of offending that is both extensive and deeply troubling, involving multiple victims, some of whom were extremely vulnerable due to their age.”
She said nursery staff routinely used communal iPads to capture photos and videos for progress monitoring and parental communication. However, some of the videos Chan shared “depicted children in distress or vulnerable situations which were humiliating in nature”.
Chan, of Stanhope Avenue in Finchley, has no previous convictions. Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford from the Met Police described him as “a heinous individual”. He said: “Child sexual abuse is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable, and Chan’s offending spanned years, revealing a calculated and predatory pattern of abuse.
“He infiltrated environments that should have been safe havens for children, exploiting the trust of families and the wider community to conceal his actions and prey on the most vulnerable. Our investigation remains ongoing, and we are continuing to review digital devices and assess Chan’s conduct across all relevant settings.”
Det Super Basford added: “While there will naturally be deep concern among those connected to the nursery and the wider community, we want to be absolutely clear that the group of children who we know to have been victims of Chan’s sexual offending, and their parents or guardians of his victims, have been informed.
“These conversations were carried out by specially trained local officers professionals who understand the sensitivity and trauma involved. We were very mindful of the significant impact on families whose children attended the nursery and may have had contact with the suspect. For these families, whilst there is no direct evidence of abuse against their children, uncertainty will remain as to whether their child may have been harmed.”
Some of the children attended Wood Green Crown Court in December where Chan, a 45-year-old British national, spoke quietly with his head bowed. He admitted 26 charges – including sexual assault and making indecent images.
Grief-striken parents could be seen wiping tears from their eyes and comforting each other as the predator entered his pleas. Afterwards, those affected by Chan’s offending said they were “still trying to process the sickening discovery that our children were subjected to despicable abuse”, and demanded answers from nursery bosses.
In a statement issued in December through law firm Leigh Day, who has been instructed to represent families in a civil claim, they said: “In admitting the charges, we are spared the prospect of hearing Vincent Chan’s crimes at Bright Horizons nursery described in graphic detail in a trial.
“We trust the judge to pass the strongest sentence to fit the crimes Vincent Chan has committed against young children, innocent victims who could not fight back. We feel that Bright Horizons has failed us, and we want answers. How was someone like Vincent Chan employed?
“Why did safeguarding systems fail completely? And how were such horrific crimes against children able to continue for so long without the staff responsible for safeguarding at Bright Horizons nursery acting? We are concerned that failures in management and supervision at Bright Horizons allowed this abuse to go undetected, and we are committed to securing accountability for our children. We would like to thank the Metropolitan Police Service for their assistance and support so far but appreciate that their investigations in this case are not yet complete.”
An Ofsted report from last year gave the nursery an overall rating of “good” – the second best of four categories. It recorded safeguarding arrangements as “effective”, and added: “There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children’s interests first.”
The school where Chan worked previously was in the London borough of Barnet. The local council’s leader, Barry Rawlings, said of today’s sentence: “While no amount of jail time can undo the harm suffered by the victims and their families, I hope today’s sentence brings a degree of comfort.
“As a result of this horrific case, the Barnet Safeguarding Children Partnership is carrying out safeguarding audits on early years providers in Barnet. This includes the use and monitoring of CCTV in these settings. We are also actively participating in the Operation Lanark safeguarding review which has been commissioned by the Camden Safeguarding Children Partnership to see what further lessons can be learned.
“Our priority remains the safety and wellbeing of the Barnet children, young people and families affected and we continue to offer them our support. The council is working with partners, including the NPSCC, to provide practical, emotional and safeguarding support to the families affected. We encourage anyone who has been affected to reach out and to know that support is here for you.”
