Stepmum ‘killed woman, 5, by forcing her in scorching tub’ and ‘made brother eat cat meals’
Janice Nix denies manslaughter and cruelty charges relating to the 1978 hot bath death of five-year-old Andrea Bernard. The court heard Nix inflicted a ‘cycle of violence’ on the child
Janice Nix, 67, has denied manslaughter (Image: PA)
A stepmother accused of murdering a five-year-old girl by scalding her in a scorching bath in 1978 had inflicted a “cycle of violence” upon the child and her young brother, a court has been told.
Janice Nix, 67, has denied manslaughter for allegedly killing Andrea Bernard by forcing her into the scalding bath in Thornton Heath, south London, on June 6, 1978. The defendant, from Clapham, south London, has also rejected charges of cruelty towards Andrea’s brother Desmond Bernard between October 1, 1975, and June 6, 1978, when he was seven to nine years old.
Andrea’s death was regarded as an accident for nearly half a century until her brother approached police with fresh information in September 2022, Isleworth Crown Court was told during Tuesday’s trial opening. Mr Bernard informed officers that the defendant’s behaviour towards him “was not as it seemed at the time” and that Andrea’s submersion in the bath was not accidental, prosecutor Kerry Broome stated.
The prosecution claimed that Nix’s conduct represented “serious, violent, cruel, degrading and unacceptable forms of punishment – even by those standards of the late 1970s”.
Nix was romantically involved with the children’s father, also named Desmond Bernard, and effectively served as their stepmother, Ms Broome informed the court.
The defendant, then known as Janice Thomas and in her late teens, bore primary responsibility for their care as their father was frequently absent working as a chauffeur, jurors were told. Mr Bernard informed police that he and Andrea were discourteous to Nix during their initial encounter, which Ms Broome suggested may be understandable considering they were youngsters and their parents had recently split up.
Their father “unsurprisingly and unremarkably” reprimanded them, she added. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the following day Nix brutally assaulted them both while their father was at work.
“This was the start of a cycle of violence, which left the children in extreme fear and terror of Janice: if the children did something Janice perceived as wrong, she would wait until their father was not around and then punish them,” Ms Broome said.
She added: “She would tell them to go and get one of their father’s belts, she would double it up, and she would beat them both on the arms and legs. The beatings didn’t happen daily, but at least once or twice a week.”
Mr Bernard’s allegations as an adult included that Nix forced the two children to have a cold bath as a punishment not long before Andrea’s death, jurors were told.
The prosecution claim this is significant because it demonstrates Nix reprimanded the children using baths at an abnormal temperature.
Mr Bernard has also claimed she hit him on the arm with a pot which left a bruise, the court was told.
On another occasion he did not clean the cat’s bowl before feeding it and Nix said “she needed him to see what it was like to eat cat food out of a dirty bowl, and made him eat cat food”, it was alleged. The accused is also said to have burned the boy’s hand with a cigarette, and even drew blood by biting his hand for eating chocolate from the fridge, the jury was told.
Ms Broome informed the jury: “Desmond says Andrea received regular beatings from Janice, and was also hit with the belt, but it was him who ‘got the worst of it’. He did not see her being beaten around the head or with any other objects, and she wasn’t burnt by the cigarette.” Nix’s mother advised her to “stop beating the children so much”, Mr Bernard relayed to the court.
It is undisputed that Andrea died in hospital on July 13, 1978, due to complications from burn injuries. Nix, with silver hair, appeared in court dressed in a blue jacket and trousers, a beige blouse, and spectacles.
The trial continues.
