A group of families are taking legal action against the company which ran a London nursery where paedophile Vincent Chan abused children. The nursery worker, 45, pleaded guilty last year to assaulting girls aged three and four while working at a Bright Horizons nursery branch in north London, which has since closed. He admitted to 26 sexual offences, including 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 of a child, and six counts of making indecent photographs of a child. He filmed himself carrying out abuse during the children’s naptime.
The law firm Leigh Day says it is representing families «affected by the serious allegations of abuse» while Chan worked at the nursery between 2017 and 2024, bringing a claim against Bright Horizons Family Solutions Ltd. Leigh Day says 46 families have joined the claim against the company, which runs more than 300 nurseries. In December, Bright Horizons said in a statement that it was «shocked and appalled» at the crimes and had commissioned an expert review of its safeguarding practices.
At a hearing on Thursday, Chan admitted a further 30 offences which did not take place at the nursery. He worked at a school in north London between 2007 and before he joined the nursery in 2017, according to police. At the hearing last week, Chan pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a female, 12 counts of taking and making indecent photographs of children, six charges of outraging public decency, and 11 counts of voyeurism. Police said they recovered images showing him exposing himself in a classroom in 2017, and videos, believed to be of Chan, depicting a solo sex act, also in a classroom. He also admitted to a campaign of voyeurism between 2011 and 2023.
Chan was initially unmasked as a paedophile after a Bright Horizons staff member reported that he had 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. 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 a police statement. Chan will be sentenced on 12 February for all 56 offences to which he has pleaded guilty.
A spokesperson for Bright Horizon said: «First and foremost, our thoughts remain with the children and families affected. What happened at our former Finchley Road nursery was an appalling breach of trust by one individual and not representative of the thousands of experienced and dedicated staff who work tirelessly each day to look after the children in our care. The safety and wellbeing of children entrusted to our care is our highest priority. We are committed to learning any lessons that can be taken from this terrible case. We fully support the Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) and hope that it will be beneficial for families, for us as a provider, and for the Early Years industry as a whole. It would be premature to comment on any matters relating to our former nursery whilst the CSPR’s process is ongoing. Parents are invited to contribute to this review, and we would encourage them to participate so that information can be obtained and considered.
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