The horrific impact of nursery predator Vincent Chan’s sickening campaign of sex offending was laid bare in court.
Children, their parents, former colleagues and others who knew the London-born paedophile described how they felt ‘violated’, ‘frightened’ and ‘disgusted’.
Chan pleaded guilty to 56 charges, including sexually assaulting children as young as two, upskirting pupils at the primary school where he used to work, sexually assaulting a woman as she slept and voyeurism.
He also had a stash of more than 25,000 indecent images.
The court heard he had become ‘obsessed’ with one particular pupil at St Mary’s Church of England School in Finchley, north London, where he was an IT specialist between 2007 and 2017.
Chan took multiple videos of the teen, spying on her as she got changed. He also superimposed images of the girl on to naked pictures of himself, mocking up sexual acts. He labelled one with the word ‘jailbait’ – a brazen acknowledgement of his criminal behaviour.
Wood Green Crown Court in north London heard he amassed around 2,000 images of her over three years.
In her victim impact statement, the girl said she had been left ‘shocked, disgusted, upset, unable to sleep and violated’.
The horrific impact of nursery predator Vincent Chan’s sickening campaign of sex offending was laid bare in court
She added: ‘I am still trying to come to terms with this information and finding it hard to process. How he was able to have equipment to film me is something that keeps going round in my mind.’
Others described how Chan shattered the trust of parents whose children he looked after at the Finchley branch of the Bright Horizons nursery, where he worked for seven years until he was suspended and then arrested in 2024.
In a particularly sinister twist, one mother described how Chan gave her daughter a farewell card he had designed when she left the nursery – the parent was unaware Chan had filmed himself sexually abusing her.
Reading from her statement, prosecutor Philip Stott said: ‘She thought that to be a kind and thoughtful gesture which she kept in the home for a year – but learning the truth has been deeply distressing.’
One of his child victims, who is now much older, revealed how she experienced ‘a new sense of fear’ since becoming aware of his crimes.
‘Now I am edgy and jumpy, I struggle to walk alone in the dark,’ she said. ‘I have always had positive experiences with men but this has changed that.’
A statement on behalf of the community of around 200 people described how parents ‘blame ourselves’ for failing to keep their children safe.
They added: ‘What should have been a time of safety and innocence has now become a time of distress.’
The 45-year-old British national has worked in childcare settings for the best part of a decade
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford speaking outside Wood Green Crown Court, after Chan previously admitted a raft of sexual offences
Alison Millar from law firm Leigh Day, representing family members whose children was under Chan’s supervision
Another woman, whom Chan spied on with a secret camera in the bathroom, added: ‘I trusted you but the truth was I was never safe with you.’
In a statement outside the court where Chan was handed an 18-year sentence, the families said their children’s early years were ‘tainted with doubt, anxiety and guilt’.
They added: ‘We are unable to look back on our children’s earliest years with peace, certainty and optimism.
‘Instead, memories and photographs of our children when they were most innocent – achieving milestones of walking, talking, reading and writing – will be permanently coupled with doubt, fear and worry about what Chan did and the impact he had on our children.’
A former colleague, who Chan sexually assaulted while she slept, said: ‘You have proven, even in sleep, there is no guaranteed safety when a predator is allowed to hide in plain sight.
‘You have spent the last 15 years building a life on the suffering and secrets of others.’
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, senior investigating officer, said: ‘Chan’s crimes are horrific.
‘Our foremost responsibility throughout has been to the victims – carrying out an 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 today’s significant sentence.’