Stepmother found guilty of 1978 scalding death of stepdaughter
A woman has been convicted of causing the death of her five-year-old stepdaughter by forcing her into a scalding hot bath in 1978.
Janice Nix, 67, denied manslaughter but was found guilty of causing the death of Andrea Bernard, who suffered severe burns after being forced into the hot bath at their home in Thornton Heath, south London, nearly 50 years ago.
Andrea sustained serious burns covering half her body and died in hospital on 13 July 1978, five weeks following the incident. The case had been treated as an accident until Andrea's older brother, Desmond Bernard, reported it to police in 2022.
Nix, residing in Clapham, south London, was also convicted of cruelty towards Bernard between October 1975 and June 1978, when he was aged between seven and nine years old.
Bernard, now 56, testified that Nix regularly physically abused the children, including for minor reasons such as not folding clothes to her satisfaction.
During the trial, Bernard tearfully recounted to jurors that he initially described his sister's death as accidental because he wanted the abuse to stop.
He detailed that Nix beat him with a belt, burned him with a cigarette, bit him, and forced him to eat cat food.
Bernard described Nix as physically "strong" with a "heavy-set build".
Jurors heard that on 6 June 1978, Nix was angry after Andrea disobeyed instructions not to leave the house and to help with cleaning instead.
Nix shouted at Andrea in an "extremely loud" voice before physically assaulting her, the court was told.
Bernard said he later heard the bath running and overheard Nix shouting at Andrea to get in despite Andrea saying the bath was too hot.
"I could hear Janice shouting 'get in the bath' and I could hear Andrea saying 'the bath is too hot mummy'.
"I could hear Janice shouting 'get in the bath, get in the bath' and then I heard screaming and splashing.
"Then I heard the screaming stopped and I could hear Janice calling Andrea to 'wake up, wake up'."
When asked how Nix sounded, Bernard replied,
"She sounded scared."
He said he then entered the bathroom and saw Nix holding Andrea, who was "limp" and wrapped in a towel.
Bernard said Nix asked him to say it was an accident and to claim they were in the garden when it happened, promising she would never beat him again.
"I lied, I told everyone that story,"he said.
"Because I didn't feel protected, I just wanted it to stop."
Bernard told jurors he lived in "constant fear" of Nix's beatings and did not tell anyone due to fear of harsher punishment.
Justice and accountability
Speaking about why he decided to come forward about his sister's death, Bernard said,
"I couldn't carry on dealing with it, so that's what I did."
He added,
"To place this burden where it should go."
In a written statement after the court hearing, Bernard said the guilty verdicts "bring a sense of justice and accountability" for the "incredibly horrific and tragic events of 48 years ago".
"The degrading and sometimes sadistic punishment and beatings kept out of view of my parents and other family and friends culminated in my young sister Andrea's life being so cruelly taken away from my family."
"While no verdict can bring Andrea back or undo the impact and pain this has had on myself and my family, I hope today's outcome sends a clever message that such actions have consequences and that victims should never be afraid to come forward, no matter how much time has passed."
Investigation and prosecution
David Malone, deputy chief crown prosecutor in London, described the case against Nix as the result of a "remarkable investigation".
He noted the case was the oldest homicide prosecution handled by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in London, with Andrea's death occurring eight years before the CPS was established.
Malone explained the challenges of building a case nearly five decades after the incident, as many original investigators and experts involved in the inquest had since died.
He said,
"We take for granted now CCTV, audio, mobile phones - all of the technology that generate documentary evidence."
"What we found, looking at that and looking at what Desmond had to say, is that Janice Nix's story simply didn't stack up."
Malone added that Nix's account changed over time and that the investigation relied heavily on Bernard's testimony and expert analysis of Andrea's burns.
He emphasized that victims may come forward at varying times, noting it is "not unusual" for accounts to emerge decades later.
"You can't stereotype" when victims may speak out, he said.
Nix was arrested at Heathrow Airport after returning from Antigua in February 2025.
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