A nursery worker has pleaded guilty to 26 sexual offences against children following one of the Metropolitan Police’s most harrowing and complex child sexual abuse investigations.
Vincent Chan, 45, of Finchley, worked at a nursery in north London between 2017 and 2024.
The offences include five counts of sexual assault of a child by penetration, four counts of sexual assault of a child by touching, 11 counts of taking indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child, and six counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child.
The latter offences involved images across categories A, B, and C, with category A depicting the most severe abuse.
Chan will be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court on 23 January.
The Met said this was one of its most harrowing and complex child sexual abuse investigations.
Chan was unmasked as a paedophile after a nursery staff member reported that he had callously filmed a child falling asleep in their food with a nursery-issued device and set it to music for “comedic purposes” before sharing the video with his colleagues, the force said in a statement.
He was subsequently arrested in June 2024 on suspicion of neglect and officers seized 25 digital devices from his home and three from the nursery. Chan was released on bail, but lost his job at the nursery.
Three months later, his devices were submitted for analysis by police, which was completed in July 2025. Forensic teams found substantial amounts of indecent images and videos of children, including evidence of contact sexual offences against children, according to the police statement.
Chan was arrested in September this year on suspicion of sexual offences. Officers seized another 26 devices from his home as well as 15 from the nursery, a since-closed branch of Bright Horizons in West Hampstead.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, who led the Met’s investigation, 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.”
DCI Basford added: “We recognise the member of staff who raised their concerns, as without that first report of child cruelty, Chan’s abuse could have continued unchecked, putting countless more children at risk.”
At this time, police identified four children as Chan’s victims.
The families of the victims have been contacted directly and are receiving specialist support, while the NSPCC is running a helpline for all 700 families of children who attended the nursery during the time Chan worked there between 2017 and 2024.
In a statement issued through legal firm Leigh Day, some of the families affected said: “As parents, we are still trying to process the sickening discovery that our children were subjected to despicable abuse by Vincent Chan at the nursery.
“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.”
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A spokesperson for the nursery said following Chan’s guilty pleas: “This individual’s actions represent not only a violation of the victims, but also a profound betrayal of the trust placed in him by families and colleagues.”
They said the company has extensive safeguarding practices in place, including rigorous vetting and DBS criminal record checks.
The company has commissioned an external expert in the field to undertake a full review of its safeguarding practices after Chan “was able to commit these crimes despite our safeguarding measures”, the nursery spokesperson said.
Anyone who wants to make a report to police about Chan can contact [email protected], or call 101 from within the UK, quoting the reference CAD3697/1DEC.
