Stepmother jailed for 1978 killing of five-year-old girl
A woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the death of her five-year-old stepdaughter, who was scalded in a bath in 1978.
Janice Nix, aged 67, inflicted punishment on Andrea Bernard by forcing her into piping hot water in Thornton Heath, south London, nearly five decades ago.
Andrea sustained severe burns covering half of her body and passed away in hospital on 13 July 1978, five weeks after the incident. The jury was informed that her death had initially been treated as an accident until Andrea's older brother, Desmond Bernard, reported the case to the police in 2022.
Nix was visibly emotional during the sentencing hearing at Isleworth Crown Court. The presiding judge, Justice Lavender, stated:
"You ran the bath. You knew how hot it wasYou heard her screams... At the very least the risk ought to have been obvious to you."
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