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JCIO 37/26
Date: 14 August 2026
A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said:
The Lord Chancellor, with the Lady Chief Justice’s agreement, has removed Miss Jill Venables, of the Cardiff Bench, from office for failing, without reasonable excuse, to complete the compulsory core training required of a magistrate.
Facts
On appointment, magistrates sign a declaration and undertaking which includes a commitment to complete all compulsory core training. The undertaking also provides that a magistrate should resign if they fail to complete that training within the required timescale without an acceptable reason.
The summary process under the Judicial Conduct (Magistrates) Rules 2023 enables a conduct advisory committee secretary to recommend a magistrate’s removal from office without further investigation where the magistrate has failed, without reasonable excuse, to complete compulsory core training.
The Wales Conduct Advisory Committee recommended that [Add name] should be removed from office after they failed to complete three compulsory core training requirements within the required timescales:
• Domestic Abuse Training, designated as essential training for 2024–2025;
• Imposition Guidelines e-learning, designated as essential training as part of the core training provisions for 2025–2026;and
• Sentencing Act 2026 e-learning, designated as essential training as part of the core training provisions for 2025–2026.
Miss Venables did not engage with correspondence about the outstanding training requirements.
Miss Venables’ representations
Miss Venables did not respond to the Advisory Committee’s correspondence about the matter.
Decision
The Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice agreed with the recommendation to remove Miss Venables from office without further investigation. They considered that failure to complete compulsory core training is a serious matter because completion of such training is a fundamental condition of appointment and continued service as a magistrate and is essential to maintaining public confidence in the magistracy. In light of Miss Venables’ repeated failure to complete three compulsory training requirements and failure to respond to correspondence about those deficiencies, they concluded that removal from office was the appropriate and proportionate sanction.
Sanctions for misconduct by judicial office-holders are set out in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. They are, in order of severity: formal advice, formal warning, reprimand and removal from office.
For more information about the Office, including details on how to make a complaint against a judicial office holder, you can visit the JCIO website at: Judicial Conduct Investigations website
