This is the moment paedophile nursery worker Vincent Chan was captured by police, as families of his victims say their children have been failed by those trusted to look after them.
Chan, 45, preyed on children as young as two-years-old when he was employed at the Bright Horizons nursery in Finchley Road, West Hampstead.
He used a staff iPad to film himself molesting the young girls as they slept on the floor during naptime.
Footage released by the Metropolitan Police shows the moment Chan was arrested at his Finchley home in early September.
On Wednesday at Wood Green crown court, Chan pleaded guilty to 26 charges, including the sexual abuse of at least four children.
The court heard he had also amassed a vile online collection of more than 26,000 indecent images of children.
Parents of children who went to the nursery have now demanded to know how Chan was allowed to work at the nursery, and why he was able to sexually abuse the youngsters without anyone noticing.
“We feel that Bright Horizons has failed us”, they said.
“How was someone like Vincent Chan employed? Why did safeguarding systems fail completely? And how were such horrific crimes against children able to continue for so long without the staff responsible for safeguarding at Bright Horizons nursery acting?
“We are concerned that failures in management and supervision at Bright Horizons allowed this abuse to go undetected, and we are committed to securing accountability for our children.”
The angry parents were in court to see Chan plead guilty to a catalogue of crimes. He is set to be sentenced in January.
"As parents we are still trying to process the sickening discovery that our children were subjected to despicable abuse by Vincent Chan at the nursery”, they said, in a statement issued through their lawyers at Leigh Day.
“In admitting the charges, we are spared the prospect of hearing Vincent Chan's crimes at the nursery described in graphic detail in a trial. We trust the judge to pass the strongest sentence to fit the crimes Vincent Chan has committed against young children, innocent victims who could not fight back.”
Bright Horizons issued a statement after the guilty pleas, saying it is “shocked and appalled” at the crimes and insisting it has safeguarding procedures in place at its other nurseries across the country.
“We have extensive safeguarding practices in place, designed to create safe environments for children to learn and grow”, a spokesperson said.
“These include rigorous recruitment vetting and checking procedures. The individual involved had an enhanced DBS and was reference-checked.
“Whilst this individual’s actions came to light after a colleague raised concerns and followed our whistle-blowing procedures to report him, we fully accept that the evidence shows the individual was able to commit these crimes despite our safeguarding measures.
“In light of this, we have commissioned an external expert in this field to undertake a full review of our safeguarding practices.”
Chan’s offending came to light eventually after he was reported by a colleague for making cruel videos of the children when they were distressed, overlaying them with music in a bid to be funny.
He was arrested on suspicion of child neglect, and his array of electronic devices were then seized.
Met detectives and experts then discovered the catalogue of indecent images of children which had been downloaded, and realised there were videos showing Chan himself carrying out abuse.
Chan, who is born and raised in the UK, worked at the Bright Horizons nursery – part of a national chain of early years carers - for seven years, looking after hundreds of children. The former video game developer joined as a specialist art teacher before becoming a room leader.
Police are still working their way through a total of 69 electronic devices seized from the nursery and Chan’s home in Stanhope Avenue, in Finchley, north London.
Detectives say the investigation into his activities remains ongoing and have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
The nursery where he worked, which was part of the national Bright Horizons chain, has now been closed down.
Alison Millar, head of the abuse team at Leigh Day, called on the police to review the decision to not also charge Chan with child neglect.
“The families we are in contact with feel very strongly that there were major failings of safeguarding at Bright Horizons Finchley Road nursery”, she said.
“We look forward to the findings of the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review but there are many questions that need to be answered.”
