UK5 min(s) read
Published 09:39 21 Jun 2026 GMT
A former probation worker who carried out a gruesome crime in 1970s England has been jailed after new evidence came to light.
Janice Nix, 67, was described as "sadistic," yet appeared shocked when she was sentenced to 12 years behind bars.
She was convicted of the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard, the five-year-old daughter of her boyfriend at the time, Desmond Bernard senior.
Aged between 18 and 19 at the time, it was said that the teen would carry out "cruel and gratuitously degrading" punishments on both Andrea and her older brother Desmond junior.
This would come to a head in their home in Thornton Heath, south London, in 1978, where Nix forced a scared little girl into a bathtub of scalding water.
Andrea would not die instantly, instead remaining in "excruciating" pain until succumbing to her injuries the following month.
But Nix went unpunished for almost half a century as police believed the claim that she was in the back garden at the time, as she forced Bernard to support her or face violence.
After Nix published memoirs where she revealed her past life of luxury as a drug kingpin before choosing a different path in life and mentoring young people, her past caught up with her.
Andrea's older brother told police in 2022 that Nix lied and that his sister's death was not a "tragic accident," according to the Daily Mail.
Nix would be sentenced for manslaughter and child cruelty, as judge Mr Justice Lavender said: "You took Andrea's life and you caused grief and misery to her family, as her mother Angela and brother Desmond have explained so eloquently.
"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 put or made her get in. You heard her screams. At the very least the risk ought to have been obvious to you," he said.
She also denied manslaughter and a separate charge of child cruelty in connection with Bernard jr, who was three years older than Andrea.
Nix admitted that she didn't know why he chose to come forward after all those years, apart from a reference to an inheritance, and claiming he was lying.
But following a three-week trial at Isleworth Crown Court, jurors dismissed her claims and convicted her of both counts.
He turned to face his sister's killer and read an emotional personal statement, explaining how his family's lives "changed forever when Janice entered our lives," adding: "She brought abuse to our household that brought extreme fear.
"I was broken and I have never been the same since.
"The last memory I have of my sister's life are my sister's piercing screams and lying about her death."
He then claimed: "Your actions robbed my sister of her life and stole from me the opportunity to grow up with her.
"You took away her future and changed mine forever.
"You fooled my family because they couldn't imagine the unimaginable - you manipulated them so you could not be found out.
"The time has now come for you to acknowledge what you have done to Andrea and myself."
Now 56, Bernard Jr recalled in court that Nic was "furious" with his sister after getting back from school on Tuesday, June 6 1978.
He remembered being in his bedroom opposite the bathroom when he heard the screams, admitting to the court in tears: "I could hear her shouting and slapping, and Andrea, of course, screaming and crying.
"Next thing I remember is the bath was running… I could hear footsteps back and forth. I could hear shouting from the bathroom. I could hear Janice shouting: 'Get in the bath.'
"And I could hear Andrea saying: 'The bath is too hot, mummy.' Then I heard screaming and splashing."
He then said that he heard Nix telling Andrea to wake up, before seeing Andrea appearing "limp" while being held in a towel by the bathtub.
"Her eyes were closed, sort of fluttering," he terrifyingly recalled.
Bernard then claimed that his step-mom appeared "panicked" and forced him to lie and tell everyone it was an accident and that they were in the garden at the time, promising not to beat him again.
He said that she had beaten them from day one, including hitting him with a pot, beating him with a belt, putting a cigarette out on him, and biting him, all as "punishments."
Andrea would die in a specialist burns unit in hospital five weeks after being scalded, after being in pain for weeks, as the court heard that Andrea suffered severe burns to half her body.
Experts said that Andrea was forced to order water exceeding 50C, maybe closer to 60C, causing damage to her skin.
The defendant's lawyer argued that since then, Nix had "devoted a substantial part of her time to work of genuine and measurable benefit to others," since completing a prison sentence for drugs offences in 2005.
Nix was given a 12-year sentence for manslaughter, and a 15-month sentence for child cruelty to run simultaneously - she will serve two-thirds of the sentence behind bars before being released into society with conditions.
