Woman convicted of the manslaughter of her stepdaughter in 1978

A woman has been convicted of killing her stepdaughter in 1978 after new evidence led detectives to open an investigation more than 40 years after her death.

Janice Nix, 67 (26.08.58) of Rodenhurst Road, SW4 was found guilty of manslaughter in relation to the death of five-year-old Andrea Bernard in July 1978, following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

She was also found guilty of the assault and ill-treatment of Andrea’s older brother Desmond between 1975 and 1978.

Andrea died nearly six weeks after arriving at hospital with severe burns to 50 per cent of her body, caused by immersion in a scalding bath at their home in Thornton Heath.

The Coroner at the time concluded her death was a result of sepsis caused by the burns, and it was ruled an accidental death.

However, in 2022, her brother Desmond – who was eight years old at the time – came forward to police and said he believed Janice was responsible for Andrea’s death, leading to a criminal investigation being opened.

Detectives carried out extensive enquiries – trawling through thousands of documents found in local authority archives and hospital records as well as attempting to trace anyone who lived in the street at the time who may have remembered the incident.

Although most of their searches proved negative due to the length of time passed, they managed to use fragments of information they found to build a case against Nix.

Detective Inspector Louise Caveen, from the Met’s Cold Case Homicide team, said: “This is a particularly tragic case and my thoughts ultimately remain with Andrea’s family, whose lives were changed irrevocably back in 1978.

“In particular, I want to pay tribute to Desmond, who bravely made the decision to come forward and speak to us, as well as giving evidence at trial. It is thanks to his courage that Nix has now been found guilty and will finally be held responsible for her actions.

“I hope this case demonstrates that the Met will always review any new evidence that is brought to us, no matter the length of time that has passed. We will use all of the resources we have available to seek out the truth and pursue new opportunities to get justice for all victims who have been unlawfully killed.”

The investigation

In September 2022, Andrea’s brother Desmond contacted police and told them his sister had died in 1978. Although it had been recorded as an accident, he told police that his stepmother Janice Nix was in fact responsible for causing the burns which ultimately led to her death.

At the time, Desmond had told everyone it was an accident because Nix – who repeatedly physically abused him – had promised never to hit him again if he kept it a secret.

It was only as an adult that Desmond began to tell those closest to him what had happened to his younger sister that day.

In a statement, he said Nix regularly beat him and Andrea up when she thought they were being naughty, and that on the day of the incident, Andrea was in trouble and Janice had not allowed her to go to school.

She had however managed to leave the house and met her brother. On returning home, Nix immediately began shouting at and hitting Andrea before running a bath and calling her to get into it.

Desmond had gone straight up into his bedroom, which was directly next door to the bathroom. Although he couldn’t see what was happening, he heard Andrea screaming “it’s hot it’s hot” repeatedly, with Nix shouting at her to get in. Suddenly the screaming stopped and Janice called him into the bathroom where he found Andrea limp.

Following Desmond’s account, an investigation was started by local officers before detectives from the Met’s Cold Case team took over.

Given the length of time passed, the vast majority of records had not been retained and almost everyone who had been involved in the incident or with the family in any way had died.

Officers did however recover a 16-page Coroner’s report which proved to be vital in the investigation. The report included a description of the injuries Andrea sustained alongside the treatment she received in hospital, as well as a statement from Nix taken shortly after Andrea’s death.

When questioned as part of the 2022 police investigation, Nix was initially not told that her original statement from the time had been found – and she provided a significantly different account of the events of that day. She also claimed that the Coroner had found Andrea died as a result of a tragic accident caused by a malfunctioning boiler which overheated the bath water – there was in fact no mention of this in the Coroner’s report.

When asked to explain these major discrepancies, she made no comment and added it had been a traumatic time in her life.

During trial, expert witnesses gave evidence to explain the level of injury and the likelihood as to how Andrea sustained them.

A burns expert said he would expect a child, when immersed in water hot enough to cause Andrea’s injuries, to immediately try to get out by standing up. He would not expect that they would voluntarily sit down or stay in this position. The prosecution argued that this showed Nix must have caused parts of Andrea’s body to be submerged.

Nix consistently denied any involvement in abusing Desmond nor her part in Andrea’s death and claimed Desmond had provided an inaccurate account of what happened that afternoon.

She will be sentenced at the same court on a date to be set.

+Bodyworn video of Nix's arrest can be found here.