A woman has been convicted of killing a five-year-old girl nearly five decades after a fatal bath incident following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

Janice Nix, 67, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard after she suffered devasting injuries when she was forced into a dangerously hot bath as a form of punishment.

Andrea, who was five-years-old at the time, sustained burns covering half her body and died several weeks later from complications arising from her injuries.

For decades, Andrea’s death was treated as a tragic accident however after her older brother reported the incident to the police in September 2022, the police re-examined what happened.

At the same trial, Nix was also found guilty of child cruelty in connection to her sustained ill-treatment towards Andrea’s older brother, who was eight-years-old at the time of his sister’s death.

Aisling Hosein of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “This was a harrowing case where Janice Nix subjected Andrea and her older brother to a sustained period of abuse, culminating in the tragic death of a five-year-old girl after she was forced into a scalding hot bath.

“This prosecution only came about after Andrea’s brother reported his stepmother’s actions to police in September 2022, resulting in the circumstances into what happened on that day in 1978 being re-examined. 

“I can only imagine the enormous courage this must have taken to come forward after being told as a child to say the incident was just an accident. 

“It is thanks to him that we have been able to secure justice today on behalf of Andrea almost five decades on.

“No matter how much time has passed since an offence takes place, the Crown Prosecution Service will always seek to prosecute perpetrators of these horrific crimes and ensure they face the consequences of their actions.”

6 June 1978 incident and Andrea’s death

The prosecution’s case was that on the day of the incident, Andrea was reluctant to return home after school as she feared Nix would be angry at her for disobeying her instruction to stay at home and clean.

Andrea’s brother said he heard Nix run the bath and call for Andrea to get in. Shortly after, Andrea screamed, “it’s hot, it’s hot” and Janice keeps shouting at her to get in. Janice is then heard telling Andrea to wake up.

The victim’s brother then recalled entering the bathroom to find his stepmother holding his sister, who was not awake and had skin coming off her legs. She is then taken to hospital having suffered burns to over fifty percent of her body.

Despite receiving medical treatment, her wounds remained unhealed and she developed signs of infection and tragically died on 13 July 1978.

Building the case – challenges in proving manslaughter almost five decades later 

It was never disputed that Andrea was partially immersed in a scalding bath on 6 June 1978 and that the injuries sustained as a result of this caused her death some six weeks later when she died from infection arising from the burn injuries.

In order to prove that Nix was guilty of manslaughter and child cruelty, the prosecution had to show that she carried out an unlawful and dangerous act which directly caused Andrea Bernard’s death and that she should have known it carried a risk of harm. It was not necessary to prove an intention to kill, only that the unlawful act caused her death. 

As contemporaneous records no longer existed, the prosecution relied on surviving coroner’s documents, witness statements and expert analysis to reconstruct events and prove that Nix’s actions were intentional.

All medical evidence in relation to Andrea’s death had been destroyed and the original pathologist and coroner were both dead and unable to provide evidence. The pathologist at the time recorded Andrea’s cause of death as cardio-respiratory failure, septicaemia and burns.

Ahead of trial, a new pathologist was instructed who determined that the infection was caused by the burn injuries, that the injury pattern was inconsistent with an accident and that the likely water temperature was capable of causing burns within seconds.

Conflicting accounts of the incident

The defendant gave two conflicting accounts of how Andrea was injured. In 1978, Nix told the coroner she was in the back garden when Andrea went upstairs to bathe alone, and that Andrea later came outside fully dressed, complaining her legs were “itching”, before collapsing.

More than 40 years later, she told police she heard Andrea screaming, ran into the house and found her in the bath trying to get out, saying she lifted her directly from the hot water.

Prosecutors said the accounts were irreconcilable and, alongside medical evidence, undermined the defendant’s claim that Andrea’s injuries were caused by an accident.

Evidence from a witness who was living at the family home at the time describing how Janice would regularly beat her children and from Andrea’s brothers was also used.

The jury also heard evidence of the defendant’s previous convictions in connection to when she assaulted an off-duty police officer.

Nix will be sentenced at a later date.