Vincent Chan, 45, has been jailed for 18 years with an extended licence of eight years for a campaign of child abuse that included using a work-issued iPad to record himself sexually abusing toddlers at a nursery.
Chan worked undetected for nearly 15 years as a primary school teaching assistant and later as a nursery worker at Bright Horizons in West Hampstead, London. His crimes came to light after police discovered a cache of one million indecent images on his laptop following a colleague’s concern to managers.
Prosecutors said Chan filmed children in distress, superimposed audio or images over videos, and secretly recorded up schoolgirls’ skirts. He also used hidden cameras to film women and sexually assaulted a woman while she slept. His victims ranged in age from two to a woman in her seventies.
Parents of one victim described their “profound” broken trust, saying their daughter “relied on those around her to keep her safe”. Another victim said his crimes left her feeling “violated and humiliated” and “paranoid about using the bathroom”.
Judge John Dodd KC told Chan: “Your conduct was utterly wicked, perverse and depraved. You became a sexual predator and someone who had clearly lost all sense of moral compass.” Chan admitted 56 charges, including sexual assault by penetration, sexual assault by touching, and taking and making indecent images of children.
