Stepmother ‘killed daughter in a scalding bath in a fit of rage’

An abusive stepmother accused of killing a five-year-old in a scalding hot bath in a ‘fit of rage’ lied to police and at a coroner’s inquest, a court heard. Janice Nix, now 67, allegedly meted out cruel punishments to step-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 the bath at their home in Thornton Heath, south London, on June 6, 1978….