Woman Found Guilty Of Killing Her 5-Year-Old Stepdaughter By Scalding Her In Hot Bath In 1978

ByMF Jones

A woman has been found guilty of the 1978 manslaughter of her five-year-old stepdaughter.

Janice Nix, 67, of Thornton Heath, south London, was 19 years old when she forced 5-year-old Andrea Bernard into a scalding hot bath as a punishment for not helping her clean up, causing severe burns across 50% of her body and resulting in the girl’s death.

Nix (then named Janice Thomas) forced the girl into the boiling bath, holding her underwater despite the child’s screams and protests.

Andrea was hospitalised and died five weeks later on July 13, 1978. Nix coerced Andrea’s brother, Desmond (then 7 years old), into telling police the injuries were an accidental fall in the garden, and she continued to beat him to keep him silent.

The case was treated as an accident for 44 years. In September 2022, Desmond Bernard – now an adult – bravely went to the police in a bid to finally get justice for his sister.

Here’s the moment Nix was arrested at Heathrow Airport in February 2025 upon arriving on a flight from Antigua:

During the trial at Isleworth Crown Court, Nix attempted to claim the burns were a boiler malfunction. However, jurors dismissed her claims and found her guilty of both manslaughter and child cruelty toward Desmond.

Big up Desmond for finally summoning the courage to come forward and ensure that the abusive stepmother who killed his sister and beat the sh1t out of him to keep quiet finally faces punishment. Yeah OK it took him a while but better late than never. He was probably haunted and terrified of Nix well into adulthood.

Nix remains in custody awaiting her sentencing, which will hopefully be extremely harsh. Very annoying that she managed to live her life free as bird for all these years, but at least she’ll get an ending she deserves.

You may be wondering where the children’s dad was in all this? Well, he was at his chauffeur job when the murder took place, though surely he must have known his wife was abusing his kids on some level at least? He died in 2022 – the same year his son finally went to the police with the truth about what happened.

Hopefully this story prompts more adults to come forward and expose the people who abused them as children.

For the mum who forced her son to slam his PS5 the same way he slammed her pet cat, click HERE.

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