She studied at Howell's School in Denbigh and completed an LLB at the University of Liverpool.

[1][3] She was appointed to High Court of England and Wales in 1993 and served until 2001, taking early retirement in 2001 at the age of 61.

In 2007, she gave the judgment in the Court of Appeal which cut actor Chris Langham's 10-month prison sentence for downloading child pornography and freed him six weeks early, a judgment which was criticised by child rights activists.

[6] Post her Guernsey Court of Appeal retirement, Steel continued to take on appointments.

In 2013, she led an investigation into a child sex abuse case involving a Guernsey church warden.