The High Court has ordered a fresh inquest into the death of a five-year-old London girl who was fatally scalded in a dangerously hot bath at home nearly 50 years ago.
Andrea Bernard, from Thornton Heath, sustained burns over half her body and died several weeks after the June 1978 incident due to complications arising from her horrific injuries.
The conviction led to an application for a quashing of the original inquest verdict and the High Court has now ordered that a fresh inquiry into the death to take place.
Giving judgment this week, Lord Justice Singh said it is in the "interests of justice" for a new inquest to take place and the true circumstances of Andrea's death to be investigated and recorded.
Janice Nix, 68, was jailed at Isleworth Crown Court for the manslaughter of five-year-old Andrea Bernard
PA
During the 1978 inquest, the then teenage Nix claimed Andrea, who was the daughter of her boyfriend, took a bath alone and later fainted after complaining of having itchy legs.
The coroner for West Sussex at the time recorded a verdict of accidental death.
But the story took an unexpected turn in 2022 when Andrea's older brother, Desmond Bernard, went to police with his account of what really happened.
It led to the arrest of Nix, who had only recently published a memoir called Breaking Out, in which she detailed how she went from being a drug dealer to an award-winning probation officer, winning the Probation Service's diversity and engagement award in 2015.
The prosecution’s case at her trial was that Andrea had been reluctant to return home after school as she feared Nix would be angry at her for not having stayed at home to clean.
Andrea’s brother said he heard Nix run the bath and call for Andrea to get in. Shortly after, Andrea screamed, “it’s hot, it’s hot,” but Nix kept shouting at her to get in, he said.
Janice Nix became an award-winning probation officer
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Mr Bernard then remembered entering the bathroom to find Nix holding his sister's limp body, with skin already peeling off her legs.
She was taken to hospital, but despite receiving treatment, she developed signs of infection and died on July 13, 1978.
At the criminal trial this year, a new pathologist said the infection was caused by the burns, that the injury pattern was inconsistent with an accident and that the likely water temperature was capable of causing burns within seconds.
Nix claimed before the jury that she heard Andrea screaming, ran into the house and found her in the bath trying to get out.
However, she was convicted by the jury and jailed for 12 years.
The case went on to the High Court this week after an application by the senior coroner for West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, Penelope Schofield, to quash the 1978 inquest and hold another.
Ruling on the application, Lord Justice Singh, who considered the case with Lord Justice Fordham, said Andrea's surviving family had been informed about the application and supported it.
"The single question is whether the interests of justice make a further inquest either necessary or desirable," he said in his judgment.
"In light of recent developments, in particular the conviction of Janet Nix for the manslaughter of Andrea, we have reached the conclusion that it is in the interests of justice that the inquest in 1978 be quashed and a new inquest held.
"The conviction has direct relevance as to how Andrea died and it is necessary and desirable for a new inquest to be held."
The file will now go to the coroner to arrange a new inquest into the tragic death.