Moment stepmum is arrested for k!lling girl, 5, who d!ed after being forced into hot bath 48 years ago (Video)

A woman has been arrested nearly five decades after the de@th of her five-year-old stepdaughter, who died after allegedly being forced into a scalding hot bath.

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Police body footage shows Janice Nix being arrested as she arrives at Heathrow Airport from a trip to Antigua on February 18, 2025.

Officers whisked her off the plane and to the police station for questioning before later charging her with manslaughter and cruelty that evening.

Today, the 67-year-old has been found guilty at Isleworth Crown Court of both charges after a tense three-week trial.

The court heard Janice Nix forced little Andrea Bernard into boiling water at the family home in Thornton Heath, south London, in June 1978.

The conviction is thought to be the oldest homicide case prosecutors in London could recall handling.

Jurors at Isleworth Crown Court heard Andrea sobbed “this is too hot mummy” before she began “screaming and splashing” in the bath.

The child suffered horrific burns and died almost six weeks later in the hospital after developing sepsis.

Andrea’s oldest brother has said the guilty verdicts “bring a sense of justice and accountability” for the “incredibly horrific and tragic events of 48 years ago”.

Desmond Bernard said in a written statement: “The degrading and sometimes sadistic punishment and beatings kept out of view of my parents and other family and friends culminated in my young sister Andrea’s life being so cruelly taken away from my family.”

He added: “While no verdict can bring Andrea back or undo the impact and pain this has had on myself and my family, I hope today’s outcome sends a clear message that such actions have consequences and that victims should never be afraid to come forward, no matter how much time has passed.”

Nix, who was known as Janice Thomas at the time, denied manslaughter and child cruelty charges during the trial.

Desmond told police in 2022 that he lied as a child when he originally described the incident as an accident.

He wept as he told jurors he remembered seeing his little sister’s “skin falling off” after she was lifted from the bath.

He claimed Nix, who had been left in charge of the children while their dad worked, told him to say it was an accident and promised she would “never beat me again”.

The court heard police did not initially treat Andrea’s death as suspicious.

The case was reopened decades later only after Desmond spoke out.

Prosecutor Kerry Broome told jurors Nix waged a campaign of abuse against Andrea and Desmond, which “went beyond chastisement even by contemporary standards”.

The court heard that Nix slapped the children, beat them with belts, burned Desmond with a cigarette, and once bit his arm so hard it bled after he ate chocolate from the fridge.

Desmond also claimed he was forced to eat cat food as punishment.

On the day Andrea was scalded, Nix was accused of running a bath after the children returned home from school.

At the time, she told police Andrea later came into the garden saying: “Mummy, my legs are itching.”

Nix claimed she noticed Andrea’s legs were “bright pink” and “peeling” before the youngster fainted in her arms.

But prosecutors said Desmond’s later account painted a very different picture, with the then-eight-year-old recalling Andrea crying that the bath was too hot before her screams suddenly stopped.

Andrea was treated in hospital for nearly six weeks and underwent skin grafts – the court heard she had burns to 50 per cent of her body.

She later died from a heart attack caused by sepsis on July 13, 1978.

Following hours of deliberations, the jury today found Nix guilty of manslaughter and of child cruelty.

Nix, of Clapham, south London, shook her head before weeping in the dock as she was convicted.

She could be seen crying hysterically in the dock after jurors left the courtroom.

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 of 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.”

Nix was remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date.