A Croydon stepmother has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the manslaughter of a five-year-old girl who was forced into a scalding bath as punishment nearly half a century ago. Janice Nix, 67, was convicted at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday for the death of Andrea Bernard in Thornton Heath in 1978.
Case Reopened After Brother's Testimony
Andrea's death was initially treated as an accident until her older brother, Desmond Bernard, approached police in 2022 with a new account of the events. Nix, a retired probation officer, was also found guilty of cruelty against Mr. Bernard between October 1975 and June 1978, when he was between seven and nine years old.
Sentencing Nix, Mr. Justice Nicholas Lavender stated: "I'm sure that you ran the bath, you knew how hot it was, you told Andrea to get in the bath, she said it was too hot, but you either put her in the bath or made her get into it. And you heard her screams. At the very least the risk ought to have been obvious to you."
Nix, with silver hair and dressed in a white shirt and black blazer, cried throughout most of the hearing and wept loudly as the judge delivered his remarks.
Victim Impact Statements
In a victim impact statement read in court, Desmond Bernard described how the abuse he and his sister endured—including beatings with a belt and being forced to eat cat food—led to Andrea's death and left him "broken." He said: "The last memories I have of my sister's life are piercing screams and lying about her death to survive."
Addressing Nix directly, he added: "You took away her future and changed mine forever. Your contrived grief at Andrea's funeral, the lies, the tears. You fooled my family because they couldn't imagine the unimaginable. The time has come for you to acknowledge what you have done to Andrea and myself."
Prosecutor Kerry Broome read a statement from Angela Bernard, the mother of Desmond and Andrea, which described the little girl as "so sweet and loving." The statement continued: "When she died, it completely destroyed me. She deserved to have a life, not be lying around in a cemetery. I think about her every single day."
The Incident
On June 6, 1978, Nix was "furious" after Andrea ignored instructions not to leave the house and to help clean instead. Nix, then known as Janice Thomas and in her late teens, was in a relationship with the children's father and acted as their stepmother. The court heard she shouted at Andrea in an "extremely loud" voice before beating her.
Desmond Bernard testified that he later heard the bath running and heard Nix shouting: "Get in the bath." He recalled Andrea saying: "The bath is too hot, mummy," followed by screaming and splashing. The screaming then stopped, and he heard Nix calling Andrea to "wake up." When he entered the bathroom, he saw Nix cradling Andrea, who was "limp" and wrapped in a towel, with "skin falling off her."
Nix asked him to say it was an accident and claim they were in the garden when it happened, promising she would never beat him again.
Medical Evidence and Lies
Andrea died nearly six weeks after arriving at hospital with burns to 50% of her body. A burns expert testified that a child exposed to such hot water would instinctively try to stand up, not remain seated, suggesting Nix forcibly held parts of Andrea's body underwater. In the original 1978 inquest, Nix claimed Andrea took a bath alone and later complained of itchy legs before fainting. During her trial, she admitted giving a false account to the coroner because she was "in a panic."
In a 2022 police interview, Nix provided a version of events that differed "significantly" from her original statement, according to the Metropolitan Police. She also falsely claimed the coroner attributed Andrea's death to a faulty boiler.
Nix's Background
A year before the police investigation, Nix published a book titled Breaking Out, co-written with Elizabeth Sheppard, detailing her transformation from a major drug dealer known as "Mama J" to an award-winning probation officer. She worked for the Probation Service between 2014 and 2019 and won the diversity and engagement award in 2015. She had previously served two substantial prison terms for drug offenses.
Nix will serve two-thirds of her sentence before being eligible for release on license.
