Janice Nix. Pic: Met Police

SOURCE SKY NEWS- Nearly 48 years after the death of five-year-old Andrea Bernard was ruled an accident, a London jury has found her stepmother guilty of killing her by forcing her into a scalding bath as punishment.

Janice Nix, 67, was convicted Tuesday of manslaughter in connection with the child’s 1978 death in Thornton Heath, south London. Jurors heard Andrea suffered severe burns to 50 per cent of her body and died in hospital weeks later.

The breakthrough in the decades-old case came after Andrea’s brother, Desmond Bernard, approached police in 2022 and gave a new account of what happened inside the family home. He told the court he had originally repeated the story that the incident was an accident because he feared further abuse from Nix.

Bernard testified that Nix became enraged after Andrea ignored instructions to stay home and help clean the house. He said he later heard water running and Andrea crying that the bath was too hot before screams echoed through the house.

When he entered the bathroom, Bernard said he saw his sister limp in Nix’s arms with skin peeling from her body. He also told jurors he suffered years of abuse himself, including beatings, burns and other forms of punishment.

Medical experts told the court the injuries were consistent with a child being forcibly held in extremely hot water, arguing Andrea would have instinctively tried to escape.

Nix denied both manslaughter and child cruelty charges. During the trial, she admitted lying at the original inquest, where she claimed Andrea had bathed alone and later collapsed. She said she panicked because she had failed to supervise the child properly.

Nix was arrested at Heathrow Airport in February 2025 after arriving on a flight from Antigua. Prosecutors said the conviction was only possible because Bernard finally came forward more than four decades later.