London Trial Opens in 1978 Stepdaughter Manslaughter

A London court has heard opening arguments in the trial of a 67-year-old woman accused of manslaughter in the 1978 death of her five-year-old stepdaughter, whom prosecutors allege she forced into a scalding bath, and of cruelty toward the girl's brother over several years.

Janice Nix, from Clapham, south London, denies manslaughter in the death of Andrea Bernard and charges of cruelty to her brother, Desmond Bernard, between October 1975 and June 6, 1978, when he was seven to nine years old. The incident occurred in Thornton Heath, south London, on June 6, 1978. Andrea died in hospital on July 13, 1978, from complications of burn injuries, in what was long considered an accident until Desmond Bernard came forward to police in September 2022 with new details.

Prosecutor Kerry Broome told jurors at Isleworth Crown Court that Nix, then known as Janice Thomas and in her late teens, acted as the primary caregiver for the children. She was romantically involved with their father, also named Desmond Bernard, a chauffeur often absent from home. Broome said the children had been discourteous to Nix upon their first meeting, amid their parents' recent split, prompting a reprimand from...