Vincent Chan, 45, worked at a Bright Horizons nursery in West Hampstead.

He was sentenced to 18 years at Wood Green Crown Court after pleading guilty to 56 charges, including sexual assault by penetration, taking indecent images of children and voyeurism.

The offences took place over nearly seven years and involved the abuse of four toddlers at the nursery, as well as related offences committed during his decade-long employment at a primary school, reports our sister title London Now.

Chan also used hidden cameras in his home to record women in private moments and sexually assaulted an unconscious woman.

His crimes came to light after he showed a colleague a video of a child falling asleep in their food, which he had set to music.

She reported him to management, prompting a police investigation.

During the probe, police uncovered thousands of indecent images on his devices, including footage of the abuse.

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Prosecutor Philip Stott told the court that Chan’s offences involved the abuse of both children and adults.

Mr Stott said: “The victims are all women and girls.

“They are children as young as two years old, through to adults in middle age and at the other end of the spectrum an adult in her 70s, recorded getting changed in her own home.”

He described how Chan organised the abuse material into folders named after his victims.

Judge John Dodd KC told Vincent Chan: “Every right thinking person hearing about your offences would feel revulsion and disbelief.

“Your conduct was utterly wicked, perverse and depraved.

“You became a sexual predator and someone who had lost all sense of moral compass.

He said that when parents had entrusted their children to the care of others, Chan had breached their trust “in the most despicable of ways”.

He added: “Whilst at the nursery you had the opportunity to carry out actual sexual abuse on victims too young and helpless to to stop you.

“Too young to alert anyone as to what you were doing, they were defenceless.”

At the primary school where he previously worked, Chan took upskirt images of one girl and superimposed her face onto explicit images.

He continued to target one girl after she left the school, collecting images from social media.

Mr Stott said police analysed 51 electronic devices, including iPads from the nursery, revealing at least 25,000 indecent images of children.

Chan also took images of himself exposing himself in a classroom and a video of him masturbating in a classroom.

Parents of some of the victims were present in the public gallery.

In December, Chan pleaded guilty to 26 offences, including five counts of sexual assault by penetration, four of sexual assault by touching, 11 of taking indecent images of children, and six counts of making indecent images.

In January, he admitted a further 30 charges, including 12 of taking indecent photographs of children, six of outraging public decency, sexual assault on a female, and 11 of voyeurism.

Bright Horizons is facing legal action by a group of 50 families.

An NSPCC helpline has been set up for those affected by Chan’s offending and can be reached on 0800 028 0828.

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