A nursery worker in the United Kingdom is due to be sentenced Thursday after admitting to dozens of child sexual abuse offenses, as the government considers making closed-circuit television cameras mandatory in childcare centers following a series of similar cases.
Vincent Chan, 45, pleaded guilty to 56 counts of abuse, including molesting four girls aged 3 and 4 at a north London nursery between 2022 and 2024. He is scheduled to be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court in London.
Prosecutors said Chan filmed himself abusing the children during naptime at the daycare center, where he had worked for seven years before being suspended in 2024. He also admitted to downloading thousands of indecent images of children.
Authorities said Chan previously worked at a north London school from 2007 to 2017, where he filmed up girls’ skirts in a classroom and recorded sexual acts on the premises. He admitted to sexual offenses dating back to 2011 and to taking indecent images of children in 2024 and 2025 after leaving the nursery and school.
“Vincent Chan is a dangerous and predatory individual, and the scale of his abhorrent offending is shocking,” said Metropolitan Police officer Lewis Basford, who led the investigation. He said Chan sought positions of trust that gave him access to young girls and allowed him to offend undetected for years.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer told lawmakers Wednesday that the cases were “harrowing” and said the government is consulting on whether to require CCTV in nurseries.
“The safety of children is paramount, and we’re acting to keep them safe,” Starmer said in Parliament.
In a statement issued after Chan pleaded guilty in January, families of the victims from the now-closed Bright Horizons nursery said they were “sickened” and raised concerns about safeguarding failures.
“These further crimes raise deeply troubling questions about how safeguarding systems could have failed so badly that someone who was a prolific and persistent offender was able to secure employment as a nursery worker and offend without intervention for a number of years,” the families said.
Law firm Leigh Day, which represents the families, said 50 families have joined legal action against the nursery provider, alleging concerns were dismissed.
The sentencing comes days after another nursery worker, Nathan Bennett, was convicted in Bristol, southwest England, of multiple sexual offenses against five boys aged 2 and 3, including rape and sexual assault. He was arrested after a nursery manager reported him to police after reviewing CCTV footage, and the facility later closed.
