Vincent Chan sentencing: Statement by Bright Horizons nursery families

“We welcome the end of this particular process and are relieved that Vincent Chan is now behind bars for his sickening crimes. 

“However, we still do not know the full scale of his offending at Bright Horizons, Finchley Road. Every family deserves the truth, and every child who suffered must see justice done. 

“Bright Horizons must also be held to account. We believe their safeguarding failures created the perfect hunting ground for a predator. Chan was not a ‘lone wolf’, and this was not about extraordinary technical skill. He was able to operate for years in a workplace where safeguarding failures were missed, minimised or ignored. 

“Camden Council must use its powers to pursue Bright Horizons for breaches under the Health and Safety at Work Act. A nursery must be a place of safety, not a place where children are put at risk. 

“We are also using the Victims’ Right to Review to seek reconsideration of the neglect charges for which Chan was first arrested. Our children carry what was done to them. They deserve justice, and we will not stop until they have it. 

“Finally, we are working with the Government to ensure early years settings are closed to predators. Parents must be able to go to work with absolute confidence that their children are safe in the care of childcare providers.”  

Fifty families whose children attended Bright Horizons Finchley Road during Vincent Chan’s tenure are represented by law firm Leigh Day.  

Their legal team is Leigh Day partner Alison Millar, senior associate Catriona Rubens and solicitor Kane Jackson. 

Alison Millar, head of the abuse team at Leigh Day, said: 

“The litany of sexual offences for which Vincent Chan has been sentenced today is truly sickening. My team and I have many years’ experience in representing survivors of abuse, but Chan’s crimes, including as they do offences against very young children, are particularly horrifying. 

“And yet, the impact of Chan’s misconduct at Bright Horizons Finchley Road goes wider than the charges for which he has been sentenced. 

“He photographed other children in concerning and disturbing ways - enjoying their humiliation and ignoring their distress – and shouted at, berated and mistreated them.  For some of those children there has been a lasting emotional impact, affecting their ability to trust adults. 

“Parents are struggling mentally with the consequences of knowing, suspecting or fearing that their children have been harmed.  This includes the anguish of knowing that, as there was no CCTV footage kept and the children victimised were so very young, the full extent of Chan’s actions may never be known. 

“Families are therefore living with the consequences of Chan’s abuse every day. 

“The whole Nursery community has been impacted by this case.  Our clients seek accountability against Chan, and also against the Bright Horizons managers and the company for the safeguarding failings that permitted a persistent offender to work with young children for almost seven years.  

“It is horrifying to hear that he had been offending for a decade before he was employed at Bright Horizons Finchley Road.  The families call on the relevant authorities to robustly investigate Bright Horizons’ policies and systems, including around digital safeguarding.  Our clients say they repeatedly raised red flags.  Accountability for this case cannot stop with one individual.”  

Chan’s crimes relating to Bright Horizons Finchley Road 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.  

Further sexual offences unrelated to Bright Horizons premises include six counts of outraging public decency; nine counts of taking an indecent photograph of a child; making indecent images of a child in 2011; sexually assaulting a female in July 2011; eight counts of voyeurism.   

An initial legal letter was sent to Bright Horizons on behalf of families in December 2025. Leigh Day is instructed by families of children identified as victims of Chan’s child sexual abuse and image-based offending and also by families whose children were mistreated by Chan in other ways, including making videos of children humiliated or in distress.   

Parents have told Leigh Day’s specialist abuse team that Chan shouted at young children, encouraged aggressive behaviour between children, and have shared their concerns about excessive injuries among children in the pre-school class, the circumstances of which were not properly explained to the parents, and changes in their children’s behaviour.  

Other families have expressed concerns about staffing, supervision, lack of sufficient understanding of safeguarding, poor staff morale, a high staff turnover and a consequent lack of consistency of care. They believe that Bright Horizons as a company did not have effective safeguarding policies and systems to keep their children safe.  

Some families also say that they raised concerns with the nursery, both about these wider concerns and specifically Chan’s concerning behaviour towards children, but these were not acted on.  

The families have put Bright Horizons on notice that they are seeking accountability through claims for breach of contract for the company’s safeguarding failures that permitted Chan’s crimes, as well as neglect and cruelty.  

A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review of Bright Horizons Finchley Road is being undertaken by Camden Safeguarding Partnership following a Rapid Review begun on 6 November 2025.