Paedophile nursery worker admits 30 new sexual offences
A pedophile kindergarten worker has admitted 30 new sexual offenses, including an upskirt incident that took place in a school classroom.
Vincent Chan, 45, faces years behind bars for abusing girls aged three and four while working at Bright Horizons nursery in Finchley Road, West Hampstead, north London.
Chan filmed himself carrying out the abuse during bedtime in his nursery and also admitted downloading thousands of indecent images of children.
At Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Thursday Chan faced 30 new charges via video link from HMP Pentonville.
He pleaded guilty to 12 counts of taking indecent photographs of children, 6 counts of outraging public morals, sexual assault on a woman and 11 counts of voyeurism.
As a result of his guilty plea, Chan admitted to filming the upskirts of children sitting at classroom tables.
Police also seized footage showing Chan exposing himself in a classroom in 2017, as well as videos believed to be of Chan depicting a solo sex act.
He also admitted to running a voyeurism campaign between 2011 and 2023.
He also admitted placing hidden cameras around his home to film women changing clothes and sexually assaulting one woman while she slept, Scotland Yard heard.
The new charges relate to 10 girls and six women and did not take place at Bright Horizons, the Met said.
Chan will be sentenced on February 12 for all 56 crimes to which he has now confessed.
Chan worked at Bright Horizons preschool for seven years until he was suspended in 2024. This came after a colleague raised concerns about his activities with children.
The tipster complained that Chan filmed a child falling asleep and set the footage to music in order to entertain his colleagues.
A subsequent Metropolitan Police investigation uncovered Chan’s collection of more than 25,000 indecent images of children.
These included videos of Chan sexually assaulting some children at the nursery while they were asleep at bedtime.
In the new charges, Chan admitted to taking indecent photographs of children in 2024 and 2025 and committing acts contrary to public decency in the classroom between 2011 and July 2017.
One of Chan’s videos from June 2011 showed him filming a girl “from under the classroom table, with the camera pointed directly at the girl’s legs,” the court heard.
16 photographs were identified of a female student “from under the classroom table, where the camera was angled to capture intimate parts of her body.”
Chan also had 13 photos from 2016 showing “two unidentified female child victims, with the camera designed to capture intimate parts of her body.”
In June 2017, Chan admitted to “taking three photographs of a male holding an exposed penis in a classroom” and a video showing the sex act alone in the classroom.
In July 2017, Chan admitted to “taking seven photographs of himself holding his exposed penis in class.”
The court heard that before joining Bright Horizons the class crimes occurred in North London.
Chan also pleaded guilty to nine counts of voyeurism, which included taking indecent photographs of children between 2011 and 2016, sexually assaulting a woman in 2011 and secretly recording people performing private acts.
In December, Chan appeared at Wood Green Crown Court to admit the first 26 charges he faced: five counts of sexual assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault by touch, 11 counts of taking indecent photographs of children and six counts of taking indecent photographs of children.
Police seized video evidence of Chan sexually abusing four teenage girls at the nursery.
After the hearing, the parents of children who went to Bright Horizons nursery made a statement and said: “We think that Bright Horizons disappointed us.
“How did someone like Vincent Chan come to be employed? Why did the security systems completely fail? And how could such horrific crimes against children continue for so long without the staff responsible for security at the Bright Horizons nursery taking action?”
“We are concerned that failures in management and oversight at Bright Horizons have led to this abuse going undetected, and we are determined to secure accountability for our children.”
On Thursday, lawyers representing some parents at Leigh Day said they were “sickened” to learn Chan had committed further crimes “prior to his time at Bright Horizons Finchley Road”.
“These further allegations raise deeply troubling questions about how safeguarding systems could fail so badly, allowing someone actively offending to find work as a nursery worker and continue to offend over several years without intervention.”
Bright Horizons said in a statement in December that it was “shocked and appalled” by the crimes and had commissioned an expert review of its safeguarding practices.
Families of 700 children who attended the nursery while Chan worked there between 2017 and 2024 have been contacted and are receiving specialist support.
A dedicated NSPCC helpline has been set up for anyone affected by Chan’s crime on 0800 028 0828; This line operates from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 6pm on weekends.
The NSPCC helpline for families can be reached on 0800 028 0828.
Anyone wishing to report Chan to the police can contact OpLanark@met.police.uk or call 101 from within the UK quoting reference CAD3697/1DEC.
Chan, of Stanhope Avenue, Finchley, north London, remains in custody ahead of sentencing next month.
