'He would cry as we dropped him off,' say parents of child who attended nursery targeted by paedophile Vincent Chan

***the account of the parents has been anonymised - this article contains content readers might find distressing***

They say he would cry and cling to their legs as they dropped him off at the now-closed Bright Horizons nursery in Finchley Road, West Hampstead, where, unbeknownst to them, Vincent Chan, 45, was carrying out horrific crimes against children.

Today, Chan has been jailed today at Wood Green Crown Court for 18 years.

In December 2025 Chan pleaded guilty to 26 counts of abuse, 20 against female children at Bright Horizons nursery. His crimes include five counts of sexual assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault by touching, 11 counts of taking indecent images and six counts of making indecent images.

He has since admitted further sexual offences pre-dating his employment at the nursery.

Chan was arrested in 2024 after another member of staff raised concerns about attempts at "comedic" videos he was filming of children using a nursery-issued iPad, which he edited and shared with colleagues. Police subsequently uncovered evidence of child sexual abuse after seizing 69 devices from his home and the nursery.

Officers analysed over a million images and 300 hours of footage, some of which had been created by Chan at Bright Horizons. They were then had the task of notifying around 700 families of children who attended the nursery during Chan's employment of his offending.

Read More: 'Utterly wicked' former nursery worker Vincent Chan who sexually abused children jailed for 18 years

LBC has spoken exclusively to one of those families. While no evidence of sexual abuse against their son was found on the devices, they say the prospect of never definitively knowing whether he was targeted by Chan "drives them crazy".

"You are anxious because you don't know what really happened to your child," says the boy's mother. "Your mind goes everywhere, you know, like, what could have happened? Did I miss any signs?"

"If … those moments, he chose to record on a nursery iPad, feeling confident enough to do that. What did he do off camera?" questions the boy's mother. "You know… that worry just doesn't go away."

Chan was initially arrested on suspicion of child cruelty after a colleague flagged the humiliating videos he was sharing of the children.

The boy's father recalls the moment he learnt that the investigation into Chan had developed into a child sexual abuse case: "I have to say initially I didn't fully grasp it… you read about it in the news, but you can never imagine that it actually happens to you and your child. It's horror. I don't know how else to describe it."

During their son's time at Bright Horizons, they noticed concerning changes to his behaviour: "We saw him turn inward more. He stopped playing with friends …you could tell as a parent, like, something's not right, but we couldn't put our finger on it."

They say he would become upset as drop-off time approached each morning. The parents assumed he was struggling with change or settling in, and are now grappling with the guilt that he was potentially being subjected to something far more sinister, but couldn't communicate it to them.

"I think that's what's causing me nightmares now, because we handed him over ... to somewhere where child molester was committing crimes," his father tells LBC. "And that, I think, is a guilt that will carry on forever."

"I remember that he would even refuse to walk when we got near to the nursery building, he would just stop and we had to kind of pick him up and carry him screaming and kicking inside," says his mother.

"Or he would just like cling to your leg when you entered the room and then you have to literally like peel him off and then hand him to a member of staff because he didn't want to let go."

The parents are part of a group of around 50 affected families now taking legal action against Bright Horizons, which they allege fostered a “consistent culture of brushing concerns aside”.

"They really want, first and foremost, an investigation into potential corporate criminal responsibility because this man did not operate in a vacuum," says Alison Millar, head of the abuse team at Leigh Day, which is representing the families.

"He was at this nursery for almost seven years. He appears to have had an obsessive interest in women and girls that predated that. Families are really concerned how he was able to get a job at a nursery, stay working in a nursery for so long, behave in concerning ways towards children, record images of their children on the nursery's devices," she continues.

In a statement, Bright Horizons said: “This is a distressing time for families and all those impacted by Vincent Chan’s horrific crimes and our thoughts are first and foremost with them.

“Keeping children safe is our most important responsibility. Vincent Chan broke that trust. His actions were depraved and devious and go against the kindness and care our dedicated professionals provide to children each day.

“We cannot comment on individual cases at this stage. But the feedback that parents and their lawyers have shared via the media is concerning to us. If concerns were raised and they were not acted on appropriately this is clearly not acceptable.

“We encourage parents to share details of all concerns raised, including how and when they were raised, as part of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review. “

In a joint statement, the families said: “What has happened here is not just about one individual or one nursery. We believe Chan's crimes raise serious questions about how childcare providers recruit, supervise and safeguard staff, and how warning signs can be overlooked over long periods of time.

“In our case, Bright Horizons repeatedly dismissed concerns from parents about Chan’s behaviour, and we believe their consistent culture of brushing concerns aside was key to enabling this catastrophe to happen.

“They will be seeking full accountability for those failures, initially through the civil courts, and are also urging Camden Council to investigate the case for prosecution of Bright Horizons as a corporate entity.

A Camden Council spokesperson said: “This is a highly distressing case and our thoughts are with the children and families whose lives have been so deeply affected.

“Camden Council is participating in the independent Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the abuse at the former Bright Horizons nursery branch, and at settings within Barnet, designed to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

"This review will seek to engage with parents, carers, family members and victims affected by this abuse, and hear from them about their experiences. Hearing the voice of parents, carers and children is a vital part of any effective safeguarding system, and can help to prevent abuse in the future.

“As a consequence of being a participant in the review, at this stage, the Council is of the view that we would be conflicted and therefore unable to undertake any investigation under Health and Safety legislation. We will keep this under review as the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review progresses.

“We will continue to support parents, carers and their children, and strengthen safeguarding across our community as this vital work moves forward.”

The government is now considering making CCTV compulsory in early years settings. MP for Hampstead and Highgate, Tulip Siddiq, told LBC why she's spearheading the campaign: "I want to make it a safeguarding tool so that we make sure children are protected in the future, and so that Vincent Chan, what he did to so many families and so many young children in my constituency, never happens again. And that parents don't have to go through the trauma and the nightmare that they're living right now."