A 67-year-old Antiguan woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the manslaughter of her five-year-old stepdaughter, nearly half a century after the child's death was ruled an accident. According to Antigua News Room, Janice Nix was convicted for the killing of Andrea Bernard, who died from scald injuries sustained in Thornton Heath, south London, in 1978.

The sentencing took place at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, bringing to a close a case that lay dormant for 44 years before being reopened in 2022. Andrea's older brother, Desmond Bernard, prompted the renewed investigation when he came forward with a new account of what he witnessed that night.

Nix, a retired probation officer, was also sentenced for cruelty against Desmond Bernard, who was between seven and nine years old when the abuse occurred between October 1975 and June 1978.

What happened in 1978

On June 6, 1978, Nix became enraged after Andrea disobeyed instructions to stay home and help with cleaning. Nix, who was then in her late teens and in a relationship with the children's father, shouted at Andrea and beat her before running a bath.

Desmond Bernard testified at trial that he heard his sister pleading from outside the bathroom. "I could hear Janice shouting: 'Get in the bath, get in the bath', and I could hear Andrea saying: 'The bath is too hot, mummy,'" he told the court. "Then I heard screaming and splashing. Then I heard the screaming stopped and I could hear Janice calling Andrea to 'wake up, wake up'."

When he entered the bathroom, he saw Nix cradling Andrea, who was limp and wrapped in a towel. "I could see skin falling off her," he said. Nix then instructed him to lie about what had happened, promising she would never beat him again if he claimed it was an accident.

Andrea died nearly six weeks after being admitted to hospital with burns covering 50 percent of her body.

Judge's remarks

Sentencing Nix, Judge Nicholas Lavender said: "I'm sure that 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 either put her in the bath or made her get into it. And you heard her screams. At the very least the risk ought to have been obvious to you."

Nix, silver-haired and dressed in a white shirt and black blazer, wept through most of the hearing and cried loudly as the judge delivered his remarks.

A burns expert who testified during the trial stated that a child exposed to water hot enough to cause Andrea's injuries would instinctively attempt to stand and exit the bath rather than remain seated. Prosecutors argued this evidence indicated Nix must have forcibly held parts of Andrea's body underwater.

Brother's impact statement

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Desmond Bernard said the abuse he and his sister endured had left him "broken." He described being beaten with a belt and forced to eat cat food. "The last memories I have of my sister's life are piercing screams and lying about her death to survive," he said.

Addressing Nix directly, he said: "You took away her future and changed mine forever. Your contrived grief at Andrea's funeral, the lies, the tears. You fooled my family because they couldn't imagine the unimaginable. You took their kindness for weakness and you manipulated them so that you couldn't be found out. The time has come for you to acknowledge what you have done to Andrea and myself."

A separate statement from Angela Bernard, the children's mother, described Andrea as "so sweet and loving," adding: "When she died, it completely destroyed me. She deserved to have a life, not be lying around in a cemetery. I think about her every single day."

How the case was reopened

At the original 1978 inquest, Nix claimed Andrea had drawn her own bath and later complained of itchy legs before fainting. At trial, she admitted to having given a false account to the coroner because she was "in a panic" over failing to supervise the child.

When police interviewed Nix in 2022, her account differed significantly from her original statement. She also claimed the coroner had attributed Andrea's death to an overheated bath caused by a faulty boiler — a claim not found in the official report.

The year before the police investigation was launched, Nix published a memoir titled Breaking Out, in which she described her journey from being a major drug dealer known as "Mama J" to becoming an award-winning probation officer. She worked for the Probation Service between 2014 and 2019 and received its diversity and engagement award in 2015. She had previously served two substantial prison terms for drug offences.

Nix will be required to serve two-thirds of her 12-year sentence before she becomes eligible for release on licence.