What happened to teacher Rebecca Joynes who had sex with two schoolboys?
A teacher who had sex with two teenage schoolboys has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Rebecca Joynes, 30, groomed the youngsters from the age of 15, and was on bail for sexual activity with the first child, Boy A, when she began having sex with the second, Boy B, who she went on to become pregnant by. Neither boy can be identified due to legal reasons.
Parents of both boys watched as Joynes, wearing a gold necklace, black padded jacket and with blonde highlights in her hair, visibly shook and broke down in tears as she was jailed at Manchester Crown Court.
Joynes had been found guilty by a jury of six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust, following a two-week trial at the court in May.
Who is Rebecca Joynes?
Joynes graduated with a degree in sports and exercise science from Liverpool John Moores University, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Following this, she successfully completed the prestigious Teach First teacher recruitment scheme, dedicated to supporting children from underprivileged backgrounds.
Joynes has also completed a postgraduate degree in secondary maths teaching.
What happened? A timeline
Joynes started working at the school in Greater Manchester in September 2018 through Teach First.
In 2020, she had to transition to remote work during the COVID lockdown. However, in 2021, she resumed teaching in person and returned to the classroom in front of pupils.
During this time Joynes met her victims, Boy A and Boy B.
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.
They connected on Snapchat and he sent her flirty texts, with the pair then agreeing 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 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.
She then began a relationship with Boy B.
He lied to his parents that he was going 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.
Boy B 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 gave birth to their son in early 2024, but the child was taken away from her within 24 hours.
Rebecca Joynes is arrested
What happened in court?
CCTV footage featuring Joynes was crucial evidence in the case.
It showed her purchasing Boy A a Gucci belt at Trafford Centre and entering her flat with him.
Her subsequent arrest was caught on a police officer’s body-worn camera.
The CPS relied on the CCTV footage, as well as eyewitness testimony and phone records showing incriminating messages, to secure Joynes' conviction.
Joynes was found guilty by a jury of six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust, following a two-week trial at the court in May.
The trial previously heard that at the age of 28, Joynes had undergone a messy break-up after a nine-year relationship, struggled during the COVID pandemic, and was lonely when she became “flattered” by the attention of teenage schoolboys.
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.
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.
What did the judge say?
Judge Cornell said Joynes was a “high achiever” who had thrown her career away and had her baby taken away from her through her own actions.
She added: “From the outside it may be easy to fall into the misconception these boys were not victims.
“It may be asked what 15-year-old boy would not want to have sex with an older, attractive teacher? Surely they would be up for it. How can this be a crime?
“Well Miss Joynes, there is no doubt this is a crime. Both boys were very much victims, obviously unworldly and vulnerable to the advances from an older attractive woman.”
“There is a breathtaking arrogance in your conduct. You were the adult.
“You were the person in control, the person who should have known better and entrusted by the school and the boys and by their parents of caring for their sons.
“Instead, you abused that position of trust and exploited the privileged role for your own sexual gratification.”
