A teacher who engaged in sexual activity with two schoolboys and became pregnant by one of them has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.
Rebecca Joynes, 30, groomed both boys starting when they were 15, first exchanging messages on social media, as heard at Manchester Crown Court.
Joynes was previously convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexual activity with another child. She cried and shook in the dock as she received her sentence.
The court heard that Joynes, who was 28 at the time, had just ended a nine-year relationship and felt “flattered” by the attention from teenage boys.
Neither of the teenagers, referred to as Boy A and Boy B, can be identified due to their age.
Joynes gave birth to Boy B’s baby in early 2024, but the child was taken from her within 24 hours
In a victim impact statement, Boy B said “one of the hardest things” was not being told anything about the baby. He added, “I struggled to come to terms with my abuse, I was completely in denial.”
During the trial, Boy B said he felt he had “betrayed someone I love and done wrong by giving evidence” but had since realized “the full extent” of the abuse and “tactics used.” He said he was “coerced, controlled, manipulated, sexually abused, and mentally abused,” adding, “I will forever be Rebecca’s victim and forever linked to her through our child.”
At the sentencing, Judge Kate Cornell told Joynes, “You were the adult, the person in control. You should have known better. You failed to enforce the boundaries of proper conduct but deliberately transgressed them.”
The court heard Joynes would “laugh off” inappropriate comments instead of shutting down the behavior. She gave Boy A all but one digit of her mobile phone number as a math problem-solving exercise, in which he had to figure out the final digit. They connected on Snapchat, exchanged flirtatious texts, and agreed to meet in secret.
Joynes picked Boy A up after school, took him to the Trafford Centre, and bought him a £350 Gucci belt. Judge Cornell said CCTV footage showed Joynes’s “flirtatious body language and eye contact” as clear indicators of grooming behavior. At her flat, Joynes had sex with Boy A twice.
The next day, Boy A’s mother noticed a love-bite on her son’s neck, which he dismissed as “nothing.” She stormed into the school reception, prompting a police investigation.
Joynes was bailed on the condition that she would have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18. She later moved back to her parents’ house in Wirral after experiencing a “breakdown” and was contacted by Boy B on Snapchat. They regularly had unprotected sex, and Joynes assured him she could not become pregnant.
Joynes was arrested for breaking bail conditions and spent five months in custody before being bailed again in November last year.
Boy B said in his statement that the situation had taken a “massive mental toll” on him and his family. He added that Joynes had refused to let social services update him about the baby’s due date, gender, or health. “The thought of not being able to see my child was heartbreaking,” he said.
Judge Cornell told Joynes she had thrown her career away and lost her baby through her own actions. “You felt buoyed and boosted by their attention,” she said. “There’s no real insight from you, you continue to deny the offences and have been silent on the distressing impact on these boys.”
‘Damaging and Dangerous’
Det Con Beth Alexander from Greater Manchester Police said, “School should be a place of safety for children. It’s clear from some of the public commentary when Joynes was convicted that there is still a lack of understanding when it comes to men and boys being the victims of sexual offences.
“They have had to read comments stating others are ‘jealous’ of them, and that they ‘should be happy a young female teacher was interested in them,’ and this rhetoric is very damaging and dangerous.
“Women can still be paedophiles; this term is not reserved only for men. Men and boys can still be victims of sexual abuse.”