Deputy Chief Judge Meryl Sexton, County Court of Victoria 

Judge Meryl Sexton was appointed as a Judge of the County Court of Victoria on 21 August 2001. Her Honour was appointed as the inaugural Deputy Chief Judge of the County Court on 22 February 2022. Her Honour signed the Victorian Bar roll in 1985, and began appearing in criminal trials in 1987.  From 1995 until her judicial appointment in 2001, she held an appointment as a Crown Prosecutor for the State of Victoria.  

In October 2005, Her Honour became the inaugural Judge in Charge of the Sex Offences List at the County Court, a position she held for a total of eight years. 

Her Honour has been a member of multi-jurisdictional State Government committees including the Sexual Assault Advisory Committee, the Criminal Law Review: Sexual Offences Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee for the Child Witness Service, the Intermediary Pilot Program Advisory Committee, and the inaugural Jury Directions Advisory Group.  Her Honour is currently chair of the re-formed Jury Directions Group, and a member of the Juries Advisory Group.  She was a member of the council of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine for ten years, and has been a member of the council of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration since October 2022.  

Deputy Chief Judge M Sexton holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Economics from Monash University. She has lectured extensively on the practice and procedure of criminal law to a variety of groups, particularly in relation to sexual offences, and the evidence of children.  In her position as Chair of the County Court’s Law Reform Committee, Judge M Sexton has engaged with the Victorian Law Reform Commission on its many consultations across a range of areas. Her Honour has also been consulted by Law Reform bodies from other jurisdictions.