Teacher Rebecca Joynes 'groomed and sexually exploited' schoolboys, falling pregnant by one

Detective Constable Beth Alexander gives a statement outside of Manchester Crown Court after Rebecca Joynes was found guilty.

A teacher has been found guilty of having sex with two teenage pupils - falling pregnant by one while on bail.

Rebecca Joynes, 30, was already suspended from her high school job and on bail for sexual activity with Boy A, 15, when she then began a sexual relationship with the second youngster, Boy B, whom she later became pregnant by.

Neither teenager can be identified.

She denied the charges and claimed no sexual activity ever took place with Boy A, while a relationship with Boy B - which developed while she was suspended from her job - only became sexual after she was dismissed and he had left school at 16, so no offence had taken place.

But following a two-week trial at Manchester Crown Court Joynes was found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

The jury of seven men and five women returned their verdicts after being sent out on Thursday morning.

Petite, softly-spoken and described by the teenagers as “really pretty” Joynes closed her eyes and grimaced, before she began visibly shaking as she stood in the dock as the guilty verdicts were returned by the jury foreman following a two week trial.

Her mother and father, sat in the public gallery, made no reaction but yards away the parents of the boys stifled cheers as Joynes was convicted.

Judge Kate Cornell thanked jurors and said she would need reports on the defendant before she can pass sentence in July.

She bailed Joynes, but warned her: “There’s a baby in this case who has done nothing wrong and is entirely innocent of all wrongdoing and you will obviously want to see her before the sentence is passed, I do understand that.

“But you must be under no illusion what’s going to happen on 4 July.”

During the trial Joynes was accused by prosecutor Joe Allman of a “naked attempt to garner sympathy” from the jury by having a pink baby’s bonnet visibly tucked into her trouser front belonging to the child fathered by Boy B, whose virginity she allegedly took.

Jurors heard both boys sent Joynes flirty Snapchat messages before Boy A was taken shopping, bought a £350 Gucci belt and went back to her flat in Salford Quays, where they had sex, with his semen later recovered from her bedsheets by police.

Boy B told the court sexual activity began when he was 15, with kissing and full sex when he was 16 and while he was still a pupil.

Mr Allman questioned why the inappropriate Snapchats and comments, with the boys referring to her as “Bunda Becky”, were not immediately “shut down” by the teacher, and asked whether she was attracted to teenage boys.

During the trial Boy A told jurors he and the teacher exchanged messages on Snapchat and one evening, when he returned home from school he had packed an overnight bag, telling his mother he was staying at his best friend’s house.

But later told police he had arranged to meet Joynes who took him back to her flat at Salford Quays, where they twice had sex, the teacher warning him, “No one had better find out”.

In video interviews given by Boy B to police detectives after Joynes was arrested for a second time he told officers of how he lost his virginity to the teacher in her apartment in Salford Quays.

He explained how he was nervous, but was reassured by Joynes who allegedly told him: "It's your first time, it was great."

On one occasion, the 16-year-old lied to his parents telling them he was going to watch a Manchester United football game.

Instead, Joynes picked him up in her Audi A1 and took him back to her apartment, he said.

He went on to tell detectives: “From then on it just progressed every chance I got.”

He claimed he and Joynes had sex around 30 times before her arrest and that he initially viewed the relationship as “friends with benefits”.

Joynes told the jury she had ruined her “dream job” with stupid “mistakes” by meeting up with the two teenagers and having them back at her flat, but denied any under-age sex.

She said she became involved with the first boy after she gave him most of the digits of her phone number and he guessed the rest.

She also said the second boy had been to her flat when he was 15 but claimed no sexual contact took place until he had reached the age of 16 and she no longer worked at the school.

Joynes joined the school in 2018, as part of the Teach First teacher recruitment scheme after studying for a sports and exercise science degree.

She said she was 28, had undergone a messy break-up after the end of a nine-year relationship, struggled during the Covid pandemic, and was lonely when she became “flattered” by the attention of teenage schoolboys.

Jane Wilson, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “Rebecca Joynes is a sexual predator.

“Joynes was entrusted with the responsibility of teaching and safeguarding children. She abused her position to groom and ultimately sexually exploit schoolboys. Her behaviour has had a lasting impact on them.

“The CPS worked with Greater Manchester Police to build a strong case to put before the jury, including eyewitness testimony, phone evidence showing the messages sent by Joynes and CCTV footage.

“I would like to thank the victims for supporting the prosecution. Joynes will now face the consequences of her actions.”

Joynes will be sentenced on 4 July.