Cruelty claims heard by jury over 1978 child death

A woman has been accused of subjecting her partner's children to "serious, violent, cruel, degrading and unacceptable forms of punishment", along with the manslaughter of a five-year-old following a fatal bath scalding more than 50 years ago.

Janice Nix, 66, was charged in February 2025 over the death of Andrea Bernard who died in hospital about a month after the scalding in Thornton Heath on 6 June 1978.

Nix, from Clapham, denies manslaughter and cruelty towards Andrea's brother, Desmond, when he was aged between seven and nine.

Isleworth Crown Court heard at the opening of the trial how Andrea's death was treated as an accident until Desmond contacted police in September 2022.

Nix was in her late teens at the time of the allegations and had primary responsibility for caring for the children and was in effect their stepmother as their father was often away working as a chauffeur, the court heard.

The prosecution claimed Nix beat the children badly during this period in what was described as "a cycle of violence".

Prosecutor Kerry Broome said that if the children did something Nix perceived as wrong, she would wait until their father, also named Desmond Bernard, was not around before punishing them.

Broome told the court: "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 jurors heard that while the beatings did not happen every day, they were alleged to have taken place at least once or twice a week.

Bernard also claimed that he and his sister had been forced to take a cold bath as punishment not long before Andrea's death.

Other punishments were said to have included forcing him to eat cat food out of a dirty bowl after he failed to clean it, burning him with cigarettes and biting him.

Broome told jurors that while Andrea received regular beatings from Nix, Desmond "got the worst of it".

The trial continues.

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