Sex predator teacher Rebecca Joynes who slept with two underage boys jailed for six-and-a-half years
4 July 2024, 13:21 | Updated: 4 July 2024, 14:19
Former teacher Rebecca Joynes has been jailed for six-and-a-half years after being sentenced on six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Joynes, 30, groomed her victims from the age of 15 and had a baby with one of the teenagers, Manchester Crown Court heard.
She wept in the dock as she received the sentence, according to reports.
Joynes joined the teenagers’ high school in 2018 as part of the Tech First recruitment scheme after completing a degree in Sports and Exercise Science.
Judge Kate Cornell told the court that Joynes had “abused the trust” she had been afforded as a teacher and adult.
She also said that Joynes had shown “breathtaking gall” and “astonishing arrogance” as she kept “the police waiting at your door as you were restoring your phone to factory settings”.
"From the outside it might be easy to fall into misconception these two boys were not victims,” Judge Cornell said. “It might be asked what 15 year-old wouldn't want to have sex with their teacher.
“Surely they were up for it, there is no crime."
But she continued: "There is no doubt this is a crime. They were vulnerable to advances from older attractive women. 15-year-old boys are no less susceptible to advances than 15-year-old girls.
"They are just as impressionable.
"They did not have self control or life experience to step back," she added.
Joynes was found guilty by a jury at Manchester Crown Court in May of six sex offences after a two-week trial.
She had groomed the pupils from the age of 15 and was on bail for sexual activity with the Boy A, when she began a sexual relationship with Boy B.
She later fell pregnant with Boy B's child.
Judge Cornell said on Thursday that the former teacher had used “flirtatious body language” with Boy A which was a “clear indication of grooming behaviour”.
She also told her: "You showed breathtaking gall in breaching the bail conditions in this way and you involved Boy B in this deceit. You took steps to conceal this offending, encouraging him to lie to his parents".
She said that Joynes had “shown an unwilling inability to face up to wrongdoing”.
During her trial, it was explained that Joynes had had difficulty in a previous relationship which ended before the pandemic.
She claims she became "flattered" by the attention of the teenage pupils and was suffering with loneliness.
Footage shows arrest of Rebecca Joynes
Footage was shown in court of the moment Joynes was placed under arrest.
In the video, Joynes is shown smiling as she welcomes the two officers into her home before they inform her she’s under arrest, at which point her face drops.
One of the officers says: “So obviously, given what’s happened, I know you’ve been sent home from school today, you are under arrest at the moment on suspicion of sexual activity with a child.”
“Are you serious?” she quickly replies.
Joynes, known by the boys as "Bunda Becky", would "laugh off" inappropriate comments, rather than shutting down the behaviour.
Boy A got her mobile number after she gave him all but one of the digits as a maths problem-solving exercise in which he had to work out the final digit.
Joynes and Boy A then connected on Snapchat, on which he sent her flirty texts. They then agreed to meet in secret.
Boy A lied to his mother that he was staying at a friend's house to play Fifa after school finished on Friday, but instead Joynes picked him up near his home in her Audi A1, took him to Manchester's Trafford Centre and bought him a £350 Gucci belt.
Back at her flat in Salford Quays, they kissed and then had sex twice, with Joynes telling the boy: "No-one had better find out."
The next day the boy's mother noticed a love-bite on her son's neck and by Monday morning rumours were circulating with Boy A's distraught mother storming into the school reception as police were called in.
Joynes was suspended from her job and warned not to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 as police investigated. But she then began a relationship with Boy B.
He lied to his parents that he was off to watch a Manchester United match but instead went to Joynes' apartment, where he lost his virginity to the teacher.
He later told police he regarded the relationship as "friends with benefits" and said they regularly had sex while he was still at school.
He said Joynes had told him she could not have a baby and they had unprotected sex, but in fact she later discovered she was pregnant.
She invited Boy B round for a "date night" involving an Ann Summers scratchcard of sexual activities, with rose petals and notes hidden around her flat leading to "surprises" which ended with a babygrow saying "Best Dad" on the front.
In a letter to the teenager, Joynes wrote: "Every inch of you is perfect. You are all I ever dream about."
She gave birth to their son in early 2024, but the child was taken away from her within 24 hours.
In court, Joynes had a pink baby's bonnet tucked into her trousers which was visible to jurors, a "naked attempt to garner sympathy", prosecutor Joe Allman said.
She denied any sexual activity with Boy A ever took place and claimed that sexual activity with Boy B only began after he had left school and she had been dismissed from her job, so no offence had been committed because she was no longer in a position of authority.
Joynes was convicted of six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust.
