Camden Council became involved in a safeguarding inquiry about nursery worker Vincent Chan in 2021, three years before his first arrest, after a parent raised concerns about his conduct and what her daughter was saying about him, the Guardian reported. The council advised Bright Horizons to investigate, and Chan was kept away from children during the inquiry before being cleared to return to childcare, according to the newspaper.
Chan later abused children at the nursery, according to the Guardian’s account. In February 2026, the Crown Prosecution Service said he had pleaded guilty to 56 offences and was sentenced to 18 years in custody. It confirmed that he sexually assaulted girls aged three and four at a Bright Horizons nursery on Finchley Road between 2022 and 2024.
The reported 2021 inquiry is central to questions now facing the council and nursery operator. However, the account of the warning and how it was handled comes from the Guardian’s reporting and is not independently established in the court materials identified in the research. The available information does not settle what each organisation knew at the time or whether a different response could have prevented later abuse.
What the conviction establishes
The CPS said Chan’s offences at the Finchley Road nursery took place over two years, from 2022 to 2024. His guilty pleas covered 56 offences, including the assaults on girls aged three and four, as well as offences committed in other settings.
The prosecution service also said the Metropolitan Police investigation found more than 26,000 indecent images of children on Chan’s computer. His offending included offences at a north London primary school, where he worked as a teaching assistant. These details describe the breadth of the criminal case, but do not establish what the nursery or council knew during the earlier safeguarding inquiry.
The chronology reported by the Guardian places the initial concerns in 2021, the abuse at the nursery between 2022 and 2024, and Chan’s first arrest in June 2024. That account supports the central point that concerns were raised years before the arrest, while distinguishing the parent’s initial approach to Bright Horizons from the council’s later involvement after referral.
Review and accountability questions remain
The Guardian reported that Camden completed a rapid review in November 2025 and commissioned an independent local child safeguarding practice review, which was expected in early 2027. It also reported that the council declined a related freedom-of-information request. The findings of the independent review were not available in the material reviewed for this report.
Separately, the Standard reported in June 2026 that three families were considering High Court action, alleging safeguarding failures and seeking an investigation into whether the nursery breached health and safety rules. Those are allegations and proposed legal steps, not findings that the council or nursery was liable.
The Standard said Camden could not investigate while participating in the safeguarding review and had referred the matter to the Health and Safety Executive. Bright Horizons said it was cooperating with authorities. The report described a continuing review and accountability dispute, but did not resolve the families’ allegations.
The full documentary record of the 2021 inquiry, the review’s conclusions and any legal determination of responsibility were not available in the sources reviewed. Whether earlier intervention could have prevented Chan’s later offending remains an unresolved question for the safeguarding review, rather than an established conclusion.