UMVA has learned that a 67-year-old woman, Janice Nix, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the manslaughter of her five-year-old stepdaughter, Andrea Bernard, who died from severe burns after being forced into a scalding hot bath in 1978.
The tragic events unfolded in Thornton Heath, south London, when Nix, fueled by a twisted desire for punishment, compelled Andrea to get into the boiling bath. The young girl's cries of distress - "The bath is too hot, mummy" - were heart-wrenchingly ignored by Nix, who callously urged her to get in.
Andrea's death was initially considered accidental, but the tide of justice turned when her brother, Desmond Bernard, came forward to the authorities in 2022. Desmond, now 56, recounted the harrowing experience of living in fear of Nix's brutal punishments, which included being beaten with a belt, bitten, and burnt with a cigarette.
In a chilling testimony, Desmond described the moments leading up to Andrea's death, revealing that he heard his sister's blood-curdling screams and Nix's frantic calls for her to "wake up." When Desmond entered the bathroom, he was met with a horrific sight: Andrea was limp, wrapped in a towel, with skin falling off her severely burned body.
Nix's malevolence knew no bounds, as she callously asked Desmond to lie about the circumstances of Andrea's death, suggesting that they were in the garden when it happened. This attempt to cover her tracks only served to further implicate her in the young girl's tragic demise.
Janice Nix was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison. She was also found guilty of cruelty to Desmond Bernard between 1975 and 1978, a period during which he endured unimaginable suffering at her hands.
