By admin 
(Gray News) – A woman has been convicted of killing her stepdaughter in 1978 after new evidence led detectives to open an investigation more than 40 years after her death.
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Janice Nix, 67, was found guilty of manslaughter in relation to the death of 5-year-old Andrea Bernard in July 1978 in the United Kingdom.
Nix was also found guilty of the assault and ill-treatment of Andrea’s older brother, Desmond, between 1975 and 1978.
Andrea died about six weeks after arriving at the hospital with severe burns covering half of her body caused by immersion in scalding bathwater at her home.
The coroner at the time said Andrea died of sepsis caused by the burns and her death was ruled accidental.
In 2022, Desmond spoke to police and said Nix was responsible for causing Andrea’s burns that led to her death. He was 8 when his sister died.
Desmond said he told everyone it was an accident because Nix, who repeatedly physically abused him and his sister, promised to never hit him again if he kept it a secret.
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In a statement, Desmond told police what happened the day Andrea was burned.
Desmond said Andrea was in trouble and Nix did not allow her to go to school that day. Andrea managed to leave the house and met her brother. When they got back home, Nix shouted and hit Andrea before running a bath and telling her to get into it.
Desmond said he had gone straight to his bedroom, which was next door to the bathroom. He said he heard Andrea screaming, “It’s hot! It’s hot!” repeatedly, with Nix yelling at her to get in the bathtub. Desmond said the screaming suddenly stopped and Nix called him into the bathroom where he found Andrea “limp.”
Officers recovered a 16-page coroner’s report that included a description of the injuries Andrea sustained, the treatment she received in the hospital and a statement from Nix taken shortly after Andrea’s death.
When questioned as part of the 2022 police investigation, Nix was initially not told that her original statement from the time had been found, and she provided a significantly different account of the events of that day.
Nix also claimed the coroner found Andrea had died as a result of a tragic accident caused by a malfunctioning boiler that overheated the bath water, but that was not mentioned in the coroner’s report.
During the trial, a burns expert said he would expect a child immersed in water hot enough to cause Andrea’s injuries to immediately try to get out by standing up. He would not expect that the child would voluntarily sit down or stay in that position. The prosecution argued that this showed Nix must have submerged Andrea in the hot water.
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Nix denied having any involvement in abusing the children and in Andrea’s death.
Her sentencing date has not been set.