Paedo nursery employee filmed himself abusing ladies as younger as 2 throughout naptime
WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Vincent Chan, 45, molested children who he was meant to be looking after at a nursery in London – he also filmed girls while working at a primary school
A paedophile who used his jobs at a school and a nursery to upskirt girls and sexually abuse four toddlers has been jailed for 18 years.
Vincent Chan, 45, of Finchley, north London molested girls aged two to four while working at a Bright Horizons nursery in West Hampstead. He also admitted taking upskirt videos of schoolgirls in his previous job in a primary school, as well as secretly filming women getting undressed and using the toilet, and amassing a vast collection of indecent images of children online.
At his sentencing hearing at Wood Green Crown Court today (February 12), the extent of Chan’s covert filming and sexual attention on children was revealed for the first time.
Prosecutor Philip Stott said police recovered covert videos taken by Chan showing women and girls as they got undressed in their own homes, as well as a video he had shot of a girl naked in a pool.
Mr Stott outlined how Chan had taken multiple videos showing a teenage girl, spying on her when she was dressed in a towel and half-naked as she got changed in her own bedroom.
Chan had also superimposed images of the girl on to naked pictures of himself, mocking up sexual acts and on one he wrote the word “jailbait”.
He also filmed the girl and a friend, both in their school uniforms, and he can be heard in the voiceover saying: “You are so sexy”.
Mr Stott said Chan had amassed around 2,000 images of the girl over the course of three years.
Chan has also admitted taking images and videos of himself sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in bed, he had covertly filmed three women using the toilet, and officers found a covert video of a pensioner getting undressed in her own bedroom.
“The victims are all women and girls,” he said.
“They are children as young as two years old, through to adults in middle age and at the other end of the spectrum an adult in her 70s, recorded getting changed in her own home.”
Referring to the woman who was sexually assaulted, the prosecutor said Chan took a series of videos over the course of around an hour and a half when she is “lying in a bed with her eyes closed, she is motionless indicating that she is asleep or unconscious, and therefore not consenting”.
Chan worked as IT support and a teaching assistant at a primary school for 10 years before he joined the Bright Horizons nursery in 2017.
He was first reported to police by the nursery on May 25, 2024, over concerns that he “had been filming children in his care who were clearly distressed, crying, wetting themselves or eating their own mucus, superimposing audio or imagery over the videos in an apparent attempt at humour”.
He was arrested on suspicion of child neglect, but searches of his electronic devices led officers to the sexual offending.
Among a mass of at least 25,000 downloaded indecent images of children, police found videos taken at the nursery itself of girls aged two to four years old who had been in Chan’s care.
Mr Stott said Chan had filmed himself abusing the children, during naptime, and he had organised the clips into folders labelled with the victim’s name.
When he was employed at the primary school, Chan took upskirt images of one girl and superimposed her face on to pornographic images.
He also appears to continued his interest in her after she grew up and left the school, said Mr Stott, with Chan having “harvested” images from social media.
Mr Stott added that police had found “images of (Chan) exposing his penis in a classroom at the primary school, and a video of the defendant masturbating in a classroom at the primary school”.
Police gathered evidence on Chan from 51 electronic devices, including iPads from the Bright Horizons nursery.
Separately, Bright Horizons is facing legal action by a group of 50 families who had children at the nursery.
A dedicated NSPCC helpline has been set up for anyone affected by Chan’s offending, on 0800 028 0828, which operates from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am-6pm at weekends.
Chan was sitting staring towards the ground as details of his crime were outlined in court, with parents of some of the victims sitting in the public gallery.
He pleaded guilty in December to 26 charges: five counts of sexual assault by penetration, four of sexual assault by touching, 11 of taking indecent images of children, and six of making indecent images of children.
In January at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, he pleaded guilty to 30 new charges: 12 counts of taking indecent photographs of children, six of outraging public decency, sexual assault on a female, and 11 counts of voyeurism.
In a victim impact statement, a representative of the families whose children attended the nursery where Chan committed many of his offences, said: “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.”
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, the Senior Investigating Officer, said: “Chan’s crimes are horrific, but we will not let his name overshadow today.
“Our foremost responsibility throughout has been to the victims – carrying out a meticulous investigation that established the extent of the offending and ensured Chan was held to account.
“I want to thank every victim and family who engaged with us during this traumatic process. Their trust enabled us to secure further charges and today’s significant sentence.
“I am also grateful to the community, our investigation team and the CPS for the valuable roles they played.
“To all those affected – our commitment to you does not end today. We remain by your side, and we will continue to ensure you receive the long-term support you need.”
Following the case, a spokesperson for Bright Horizons said: “This is a distressing time for families and all those impacted by Vincent Chan’s horrific crimes and our thoughts are first and foremost with them.
“Keeping children safe is our most important responsibility. Vincent Chan broke that trust. His actions were depraved and devious and go against the kindness and care our dedicated professionals provide to children each day.
“Chan’s actions came to light because a staff member raised concerns and followed our internal escalation procedures. We then escalated externally to the Local Authority and Ofsted and worked with the Police throughout their investigation. We are increasing awareness of the ways staff can escalate concerns so that they do so quickly and confidentially
“We have extensive safeguarding practices and training requirements in place designed to keep children safe. All our staff have to go through rigorous recruitment screening and reference checking, as well as regular training.
“We have brought forward several internal safeguarding audits and refresher trainings to ensure staff are fully aware of their obligations. We have also engaged an external expert to carry out a full review of our practices to make sure we meet the most robust standards of safeguarding.
“We are committed to understanding what happened so that we can learn from this terrible episode. We support the Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) and hope that it will be beneficial for families, for us as a provider and for the Early Years industry as a whole.”
Anyone wishing to speak to Met detectives or make a report relating to Chan can email [email protected] or call 101 quoting CAD3697/1DEC. A dedicated NSPCC helpline (0800 028 0828) has also been set up.
