Rebecca Joynes, a schoolteacher who had sex with two teenage schoolboys, has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
The 30-year-old “sexual predator” was sentenced for six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
She was found guilty by a jury at Manchester Crown Court in May following a two-week trial.
Joynes began grooming the two boys – whom cannot be identified – when they were 15 and 16 respectively. She was on bail for sexual activity with the first, Boy A, when she began having sex with the second, Boy B, by whom she went on to become pregnant.
Manchester Crown Court heard how she had fostered relationships with the boys, who referred to her as “Bunda Becky” over flirty Snapchat messages.
She had groomed them with attention and bought one, called Boy A, a £350 Gucci belt during a shopping trip to the Trafford Centre.
Returning to her flat in Salford Quays, they kissed and then had sex twice, with Joynes telling the boy: “No-one had better find out.”
The boys’ mother noticed a love-bite on her son’s neck, and with rumours circulating about the relationship before the mum stormed into the school.
Joynes denied the claims, but Boy A’s semen was later found on her bed sheets, which were seized by police. The jury heard that this was whilst he was still 15.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Joynes, 30, arrives at Manchester Crown Court where she is facing a jail sentence after being convicted of six counts of sexual activity with a child
PA
In the following days after these events, an investigation began and Joynes was suspended from her job. Whilst on bail, she was ordered to have no contact with any person under the age of 18 – and yet, she then began a sexual relationship with another student, Boy B.
In evidence, Boy B told the court it began as “friends with benefits”, but that they ultimately fell in love. He also said they had sex regularly over the course of their 18-month-long relationship.
However, things started to sour when Joynes became pregnant with Boy B’s child. The jury heard that she had told the teenager that she thought she was unable to conceive, and so the pair had been having intercourse without protection.
To tell Boy B that she was pregnant, she invited him round for a “date night”, in which she organised a trail of surprises, 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.”
At the sentencing this morning, a victim impact statement was read out on behalf of Boy B, in which he described the extent of the abuse he suffered at the hands of the former teacher.
Joynes’ dad was by her side as she arrived at Manchester Crown Court
PA
The statement said: “I struggled to come to terms with my abuse… I was in total denial… I felt as though I had betrayed someone I loved”.
He went on to say that, over time, he realised he had been “coerced and controlled”, as well as “sexually abused.”
He also described the difficulties of co-parenting with his abuser.
The statement said: “Our child comes home smelling of (their) mum… this completely freaks me out”, as well as highlighting that the child will not have their mum present like a “normal child” would.
Throughout proceedings, Joynes sat in the dock, and upon reference to their child, she began to sob.
Whilst passing sentence, Judge Kate Cornell told Joynes “you brought this on yourself,” stating: “Both boys were very much victims… they were vulnerable to advances from an older and attractive woman.”
Joynes will now serve a six-and-a-half year sentence, half of which will be on prison; the other half out on license.
