Camden Council faces legal action over child sexual abuse safeguarding failures

Camden Council is facing legal action over safeguarding failures at a nursery home where a man sexually abused children as young as two years old.

Vincent Chan was jailed for 18 years in February after it emerged he had amassed a collection of 26,000 indecent images of children and had carried out abuse over a period of 15 years.

He had joined the Bright Horizons nursery in West Hampstead in 2017 and was reported to the police in May 2024 over concerns he was filming children.

Three families of the affected children say the council has refused to investigate whether the nursery group breached health and safety rules.

They have threatened to bring legal action at the High Court, saying the council has a duty to investigate issues at the nursery, such as staff shortages and parents' complaints, as well as Chan's use of digital devices, which may have allowed the paedophile to carry out the abuse undetected.

Camden Council has said it cannot begin an investigation while it is participating in a safeguarding review, but it has referred the case to the Health and Safety Executive.

In a joint statement, the families said: "Our children were supposed to be safe at nursery.

"Instead, a predator was able to operate in plain sight for seven years.

"We feel there were serious safeguarding failures at Bright Horizons, and those failures should be investigated by the enforcing body, Camden Council."

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The families added: "We, as the parents of victims, young children who are some of the most vulnerable people in society, should not have to beg for an investigation like this to be carried out.

"If Camden Council, the Health and Safety Executive and the police will not investigate Bright Horizons, who is responsible for holding nursery operators accountable? Why are parents left to ask that question?"

A spokesperson for Camden Council said: "Parents, carers and children are at the heart of everything we do as this local child safeguarding practice review progresses.

"The fact we are participating in this ongoing statutory review, and the matters under consideration, means that we are currently conflicted and cannot begin any investigation into Bright Horizons nursery concerning possible breaches of health and safety legislation.

"We appreciate that this is frustrating and upsetting for parents and carers but we will revisit the issue of conflict once the review has completed.

"We also consider that this is an exceptional case that meets the criteria for referral to the Health and Safety Executive, as the national regulator. We did this at the earliest opportunity."

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