A nursery worker in north London is facing a lengthy prison sentence after admitting a catalogue of child sexual offences that has intensified scrutiny of safeguarding in UK childcare settings.

Vincent Chan, 45, pleaded guilty to 56 offences, including the sexual abuse of four girls aged three and four at a Bright Horizons nursery in north London. The abuse took place over a two-year period while Chan was employed as a member of staff and entrusted with the children’s care.

Prosecutors said Chan filmed himself abusing the girls during naptime, exploiting the privacy of the nursery’s sleep area to carry out and record the assaults. Investigators later discovered thousands of indecent images of children in his possession, revealing a pattern of offending that stretched back more than a decade.

Before joining the nursery, Chan worked at a north London school between 2007 and 2017. During that time, he secretly filmed up young girls’ skirts in the classroom and recorded himself performing sexual acts on the premises. He also admitted taking further indecent images of children after leaving both the school and the nursery.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford of the Metropolitan Police described Chan as “a dangerous and predatory individual” whose offending was “shocking in its scale”. He said Chan had repeatedly sought positions of trust that gave him access to young girls, allowing him to offend “unchecked for so long”.

Chan has admitted sexual offences dating back to 2011. The Bright Horizons nursery where he worked has since closed. Families of the victims said they were “sickened” by the revelations and questioned how existing safeguarding systems had failed to detect a prolific offender over many years.

Law firm Leigh Day, representing affected families, said around 50 families have joined legal action against Bright Horizons, alleging serious safeguarding failures and accusing the provider of dismissing or minimising concerns raised by parents.

The case has added urgency to a government review of safety measures in early years settings. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament that ministers are consulting on whether to make CCTV mandatory in nurseries, following a series of abuse cases in childcare centres across the country. He said the cases were “harrowing” and insisted that children’s safety must remain paramount.

Chan will be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court in London, where judges are expected to consider the breadth of his offending and the long-term impact on his victims and their families.