00:00Hi Janice. I don't know whether you recognise me. DC Fran Homer. We met a couple of years ago.
00:07Me? Yes. I speak to you privately but at the moment I need your passport and your phone please.
00:19That's my phone. Thank you very much. I'm not going to do anything with them, it's just so you can't
00:23make any calls. That's all it is.
00:32Passport. Thank you very much. It's just one passport? Yeah, I've got my auntie with a passport.
00:36Can I have that as well then please? Thank you very much. Cheers. That's great. Can you just grab your
00:40stuff?
00:41Yeah. Yep. Everything? I don't think you've got anything up above you. No.
00:44Are you sure? I just want you to leave anything here, just making sure you've got absolutely everything.
00:48Yes. Okay. Yes. Absolutely certain you've got everything? Yes. Okay. Let's go.
00:52Andrea Bernard's death was treated as an accident until her older brother Desmond Bernard went to police in 2022 with
01:01a new account of what's happened.
01:03Nix of Clapham shook her head before weeping in the dock as she was also convicted of cruelty to Mr.
01:11Bernard between October 1975 and June 1978.
01:16Giving evidence during the trial, Mr. Bernard, now 56, tearfully told jurors that he had initially described his sister's death
01:24as an accident because he wanted Nix to stop beating him.
01:28Mr. Bernard said that Nix beat him with a belt, burned him with a cigarette, bit him and made him
01:35eat cat food.
01:36He said that Nix regularly beat the children, even for not folding their clothes to her standards.
01:43Jurors heard that on the 6th of June 1978, Nix was furious after Andrea ignored instructions not to leave the
01:51house and to help clean instead.
01:53Nix shouted at Andrea in an extremely loud voice before beating her.
01:58Mr. Bernard said he later heard the bath running, screaming and splashing water before witnessing his unconscious sister's severe visible
02:07injuries.
02:08A Burns expert told the trial that a child exposed to water hot enough to cause Andrea's injuries would instinctively
02:15try to get out by standing up, not remain seated.
02:19Prosecutors argued this meant Nix must have forcibly held parts of Andrea's body underwater.
02:25You're under arrest, OK, for the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard on the 13th of July 1978.
02:32You're also under arrest for the assault and ill treatment of Desmond Bernard between the 1st of October 1975 and
02:41June 1978.
02:43OK, you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence.
02:46If you do not mention or in question something which you later align in court, anything you do say may
02:51be given in evidence.
02:52All right.
02:53Your arrest is necessary to prevent your disappearance and hinge of any prosecution.
02:57Right.
02:59All right.
Comments