Accused hot tub killer denies hitting her step kids

An abusive stepmother accused of killing a five-year-old in a scalding hot bath wept as she denied ever hitting the children. Janice Nix, now 67, allegedly meted out cruel punishments to daughter Andrea Bernard and then eight-year-old brother Desmond Bernard that went ‘beyond chastisement even by contemporary standards.’ Nix was 17 when she allegedly forced five-year-old Andrea into a bath at their home in Thornton Heath, south London, on June 6, 1978. Andrea was said to have told Nix, ‘Mummy,…