Former Nursery Worker Vincent Chan Receives 18-Year Sentence for Heinous Child Sex Crimes
The full, horrific extent of nursery predator Vincent Chan's depraved campaign of sexual offending was exposed in chilling detail at Wood Green Crown Court. Children, parents, former colleagues, and others who knew the London-born paedophile delivered powerful victim impact statements, describing feelings of being 'violated', 'frightened', and 'profoundly disgusted' by his actions.
A Catalogue of Depravity: 56 Charges Including Assault on Toddlers
Vincent Chan pleaded guilty to a staggering 56 separate charges, which included sexually assaulting children as young as two years old. His offences spanned multiple locations and methods. At the primary school where he previously worked as an IT specialist, he engaged in 'upskirting' of pupils. He also sexually assaulted a woman while she slept and committed multiple acts of voyeurism. Police discovered a personal cache containing more than 25,000 indecent images in his possession.
Obsessive Targeting of a Specific Schoolgirl
The court heard disturbing evidence that Chan developed a specific and obsessive fixation on one pupil at St Mary's Church of England School in Finchley, north London. He worked at the school between 2007 and 2017. Over a three-year period, he amassed approximately 2,000 images and videos of the teenage girl, secretly filming her as she changed clothes. In a particularly brazen and sickening act, he superimposed images of the girl onto naked photographs of himself, creating mock-ups of sexual acts. He labelled one such image with the word 'jailbait', a blatant acknowledgment of his criminal intent.
In her emotional victim impact statement, the girl said she had been left 'shocked, disgusted, upset, unable to sleep and deeply violated'. She added, 'I am still trying to come to terms with this information and finding it incredibly hard to process. The thought of how he was able to have the equipment to film me is something that constantly goes round and round in my mind.'
Betrayal of Trust at Nursery and Sinister 'Farewell' Gesture
Chan's crimes extended to the Finchley branch of the Bright Horizons nursery, where he worked for seven years until his suspension and subsequent arrest in 2024. He utterly shattered the trust of the parents whose children he was entrusted to care for.
In a revelation that underscored the calculated nature of his offending, the court heard how Chan gave a farewell card he had personally designed to a young girl when she left the nursery. The child's mother, unaware at the time that Chan had filmed himself sexually abusing her daughter, initially saw it as a kind gesture and kept the card in her home for a year. Prosecutor Philip Stott, reading from the mother's statement, said, 'Learning the horrifying truth behind that card has been deeply and profoundly distressing.'
Lasting Trauma and Community-Wide Impact
The psychological impact on victims was described as severe and enduring. One of his child victims, now an adult, spoke of experiencing 'a new and pervasive sense of fear' since learning of his crimes. 'Now I am constantly edgy and jumpy; I struggle to walk alone in the dark,' she said. 'I had always had positive experiences with men, but this has fundamentally changed that perception.'
A statement provided on behalf of the wider community of around 200 affected people described how parents 'blame ourselves' for failing to protect their children. 'What should have been a time of absolute safety and innocence for our children has now become a period marked by deep distress and anxiety,' they added.
Another woman, whom Chan spied on with a hidden camera placed in a bathroom, stated, 'I trusted you, but the truth was I was never safe with you, not for a single moment.'
Families' Innocent Memories 'Permanently Tainted'
Outside the court, following the imposition of the 18-year sentence, the families issued a collective statement. They said their children's earliest years were now 'irreversibly tainted with doubt, anxiety, and guilt'.
'We are utterly unable to look back on our children's earliest years with any sense of peace, certainty, or optimism,' the statement continued. 'Instead, memories and photographs of our children when they were at their most innocent—achieving those precious milestones of walking, talking, reading, and writing—will be permanently coupled with doubt, fear, and relentless worry about what Chan did and the lasting impact he has had on our children.'
Predator 'Hiding in Plain Sight'
A former colleague, whom Chan sexually assaulted as she slept, delivered a powerful condemnation. 'You have proven, even in sleep, there is no guaranteed safety when a predator is allowed to hide in plain sight,' she said. 'You have spent the last 15 years building a life entirely on the suffering and stolen secrets of others.'
Police Praise Victim Courage in Securing 'Significant' Sentence
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, the senior investigating officer, stated, 'Vincent Chan's crimes are truly horrific in their scale and nature. Our foremost responsibility throughout this complex investigation has been to the victims—carrying out a thorough process to establish the full extent of the offending and to ensure Chan was held fully accountable for his actions.'
He added, 'I want to sincerely thank every victim and every family member who engaged with us during this deeply traumatic process. Their immense courage and trust in the investigation were pivotal in enabling us to secure today's significant sentence.' The 45-year-old British national, who worked in childcare settings for nearly a decade, will now face a lengthy period behind bars.
