Nursery Scandals: New BBC documentary reveals 'sickening' truth about how two 'prolific paedophiles' worked with children
Nathan Bennett and Vincent Chan were both sexually molesting children in the nurseries they worked in
Nursery Scandals: What Went Wrong? is a truly disturbing report on the systematic failures within early years care, and asks how “prolific paedophiles” Nathan Bennett and Vincent Chan were able to work with children.
Following the death of a toddler at a ‘good’ rated nursery, Hayley Hassall investigates the worst problems affecting UK nurseries. She focuses on three cases that had devastating consequences, and hears from the parents of young children let down by safeguarding errors – as well as the whistleblowers who tried to prevent them.
Hayley talks to Masi Sibanda, the mum of 14-month-old Noah, who died while in the care of Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley. Kimberley Cookson later pled guilty to his death by gross negligence.
She also exposes the “dangerous” flaws in the system that allowed sex offenders Nathan Bennett and Vincent Chan to work with children in nurseries.
***Warning: contains distressing details of child abuse***
‘Evil’ nursery worker Nathan Bennett was ‘every parent’s nightmare’
Nathan Bennett worked in Partou King Street Nursery in Bristol where he sexually abused multiple children in his care. As described in the BBC One report tonight (Wednesday, June 24), parents and fellow staff raised concerns about his “suspicious behaviour” months before his arrest.
Staff at the nursery should have passed these concerns to the local authorities safeguarding team and Ofsted. They didn’t. The nursery eventually suspended him after CCTV showed him putting his hands down a boy’s trousers.
Police eventually arrested him. A jury subsequently convicted him of multiple counts of sexual abuse, including two counts of rape, against five boys. The victims were two and three years old at the time.
Det Insp Lucy Forde, from Avon and Somerset Police, said officers spent “hundreds of hours” watching CCTV footage from the nursery’s 18 cameras. She described the footage as “absolutely sickening”.
A judge handed the nursery worker a 30-year sentence for sexually abusing children. In court, Nathan’s actions were described as “every parent’s nightmare”. Nathan, of Corston near Bath, was 30 at the time. He had previously admitted 13 other sexual offence charges relating to four of the boys.
Handing down sentence, His Honour Judge William Hart described Bennett as “evil” and an “incorrigible and dangerous paedophile”. The judge said Bennett had been “lurking, ready” to abuse children and “pollute their innocence” with his “own vile desires”.
Nathan Bennett will serve at least two-thirds of his 30-year sentence behind bars. The nursery has since closed.
‘Perverse and depraved’ Vincent Chan raped children
Sex offender Vincent Chan sexually abused children as young as two over the course of seven years while working in a West Hampstead nursery. While Nathan Bennett worked in the Partou chain, “utterly wicked” Vincent was employed by the Bright Horizons nursery in Finchley Road between 2017 and 2024.
He filmed himself sexually abusing the young children in his care in north-west London.
Vincent was first reported police by the nursery in May 2024 over concerns that he had been “filming children in his care who were clearly distressed, superimposing audio or imagery over the videos in an apparent attempt at humour”. He also cruelly mocked the children in his care. Parents concerns had previously been “dismissed”.
A judge sentenced the nursery abuser to 18 years in prison. Forty-five at the time, he admitted 56 charges including sexual assault by penetration, possession of indecent images and voyeurism. Vincent Chan, who was sentenced to a further eight years on extended licence, amassed a collection of more than 26,000 indecent images online, including clips of children being raped.
Judge John Dodd KC told Wood Green Crown Court that Chan was a “perverse and depraved” man who had “clearly lost all sense of moral compass”.
In total his offences spanned from 2008 to 2024 and his victims ranged in age from two to a woman in her 70s. Understandably, a number of families are taking legal action against Bright Horizons and have called for the nursery to be prosecuted. Mandatory CCTV in nurseries is now being considered.
How were Nathan Bennett and Vincent Chan allowed near children?
Understandably, many viewers of the doc – which landed on BBC iPlayer on Monday – were disgusted by the actions of Nathan Bennett and Vincent Chan. And shocked that the nurseries hadn’t carried out the proper checks.
One said: “Who in the hell would employ such a hideous person [as Vincent Chan]?”
Another said: “These disgusting people who ignored the parents and children need to go to jail!!! They allowed the most vile abuse to continue. They are accomplices. Only 18 years. FFS!”
A third said: “They spoke up. They were brushed aside. And the children paid the price for being ignored.”
“Why is it not mandatory to have at least two people present at all times in any type of child care/school setting?” asked another. “This is absolutely horrendous and this type of crime really is a good argument for capital punishment.”
One more wrote: “Unbelievable what people get away with for so long. You would have thought, with all of the inspections and CBR checks, that this would have been flagged sooner. Those poor children. Hopefully they are young enough to not remember fully as they grow up.”
