‘Predator’ teacher convicted of sex with schoolboys

A teacher has been found guilty of having sex with two schoolboys.

Rebecca Joynes, 30, groomed the youngsters from the age of 15, Manchester Crown Court heard, 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 teenager can be identified.

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

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

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.”

Michael O’Brien, defending, asked for bail for the defendant and is making a bail application.

Joynes joined the school in 2018 as part of the Teach First 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.

Joynes – who was referred to as Bunda Becky by the boys, with some making inappropriate comments to her – laughed their behaviour off instead of shutting it down.

She said boy A got her mobile number after she gave him all but one of the digits, and as a problem-solving exercise he had to work out the final digit. They connected on Snapchat and he sent her flirty texts with the pair agreeing to meet in secret.

Boy A told his mother his teacher was “well fit” and all the boys fancied her, which she dismissed as a “typical teenage” boy’s comment.

Two weeks later the youngster lied to her that he was staying at a friend’s house to play computer games after school finished on Friday.

Instead Joynes picked him up near his home in her Audi A1, took him to the Trafford Centre and bought him a £350 Gucci belt.

On the way Joynes laughed and said, “Oh shut up!” when boy A, referring to driving, said, “I’m not old enough”.

At her flat they kissed 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 which he dismissed as “nothing”.

However, boy A had taken a photo on his Snapchat and rumours began to circulate as police received a tip-off.

On Monday morning, officers were at the school with boy A’s “distraught” mother who stormed into reception after being told her son had spent the night with a teacher.

Boy A initially told police it was just “banter” between the boys that got out of hand, as Joynes was suspended and a police investigation began.

His semen was later recovered from bed sheets seized at the teacher’s flat.

She was bailed on condition she have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18.

Joynes said she then had a “breakdown” and moved back to her parents on the Wirral.

She was at a low point when boy B messaged her on Snapchat asking how she was. “I genuinely thought he cared,” Joynes said.

Soon boy B messaged her “Get your tits out”, and Joynes replied “Not tonight”.

She moved to Salford Quays and boy B visited, with Joynes straddling him and they kissed, but she suggested waiting until he was 16 before going any further.

After his birthday boy B lied to his parents, telling them he was going to watch a Manchester United match, but instead again went to Joynes’ apartment.

He told jurors he was “nervous” when he lost his virginity to Joynes, warning her: “Don’t expect anything big, I’m only 16.”

As he stripped Joynes said: “Oh! You lied to me.”

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 she later discovered she was pregnant.

The relationship soured, with frequent rows as Joynes became jealous and controlling, he claimed.

In a bid to save the relationship – a day before Joynes was arrested for a second time – she invited boy B round for a “date night” involving an Ann Summers scratchcard of sexual activities, rose petals and hidden notes around her flat, leading to “surprises” which he played along with and followed.

At the end was a babygrow saying Best Dad on the front.

“I was like, ‘What the f***!’,” boy B told police.

In a letter to boy B, Joynes wrote: “Every inch of you is perfect. You are all I ever dream about.”

She was arrested the next day for breaking her bail conditions and spent five months in custody until she was bailed in November last year, giving birth in early 2024.

Joynes wore a pink baby’s bonnet tucked into her trousers while coming into court, wiping tears away as she told how the baby was taken away from her 24 hours after giving birth.

The bonnet was a “naked attempt to garner sympathy”, prosecutor Joe Allman said.

Joynes denied any sexual activity with boy A took place and said that when he stayed at her flat he slept on the sofa.

She said 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 as she was no longer in a position of authority.

She said she felt lonely, let her guard down and “caved in” to the attention she was getting, making “stupid mistakes” by meeting youngsters out of school, but denied wrongdoing.

Mr Allman suggested she saw her position differently because she was a woman, and no-one would have any sympathy for a 30-year-old male teacher taking teenage girls to his flat.

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.”