Former maths teacher Rebecca Joynes began a sexual relationship with two pupils, grooming one of them with a £345 Gucci belt and falling pregnant with the second.
Jailed paedophile teacher Rebecca Joynes snubbed a special conduct hearing which heard today that she was responsible for causing “enormous damage” after having sex with two underage pupils.
Rebecca Joynes, from Wirral, loved her “dream job” as a maths teacher but destroyed her career when it emerged she had formed a sexual relationship with a pupil under her care. Despite being suspended, Joynes went on to form a second relationship with another underage pupil, becoming pregnant with his child.
Joynes, 31, was jailed for six-and-a-half years in July for the crimes. She groomed one 15-year-old boy with a trip to the Trafford Centre, buying him a £345 Gucci belt from Selfridges. She then fell pregnant with another teenage pupil, who she also began a sexual relationship with when he was 15.
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Joynes was found guilty of six counts of sexual activity with a child, including two counts of sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust following a trial at Manchester Crown Court. On December 4 a professional conduct panel hearing was taking place into her behaviour.
But Joynes, who is still behind bars, refused to attend and didn’t have anyone to represent her interests, the panel was told. Shirley Duckworth, representing the Teaching Regulation Agency, told the panel Joynes’ convictions were “of the utmost severity” and pointed to her “lack of engagement” in conduct panel proceedings.
Outlining her offending against one of the victims, who she referred as Pupil A, Ms Duckworth said the teacher was responsible for an “abuse of trust” and she pointed out how the trial judge had noted the “significant disparity” in their ages. She had also “deleted” the content of her phone when a investigation began, said Ms Duckworth.
Her offending against the second boy, referred to as Pupil B, was characterised by “grooming and an abuse of trust”, said Ms Duckworth. She said “the most serious” aspect of the offending against Pupil B was that it took place while she was on bail for crimes against Pupil A.
During the initial trial last year, jurors heard how she groomed her first victim, Boy A, sending him an image of herself in a thong and had sex with him at her flat. It was an anonymous Childline tip-off that alerted police to her crimes.
While suspended, she “fell in love” with Boy B. She denied they had any sexual contact before he turned 16. But before her descent into depravity, Joynes had been in an apparently normal nine-year relationship – although the identity of her ex has not been shared.
She told the court that the break-up left her feeling lonely and desperate for attention. Joynes said she had also struggled with loneliness during the Covid lockdowns, the court heard.
Admitting she enjoyed the attention, Joynes said: “As a teacher I should never have engaged in any form of contact with a student. I let my guard down. I caved in to the attention he was giving me. I struggled massively over the Covid period. I think I was obviously lonely and I liked the attention at the time, which sounds awful.”
Joynes told Boy A several times that “no-one better find out” after the pair had sex, according to a statement he later made to police. They later had sex again and by this point, he was “pretty confused” and told two friends on Snapchat about what had taken place, the court heard.
He said: “I remember feeling it was a bit weird, in the moment going up the stairs.” Boy A said he sat on the edge of the bed and the pair started to kiss. He continued: “She took her jacket off and took her stuff off. As she was getting undressed she said, ‘No one had better find out’.”
During the trial, Joynes said Boy A slept on her sofa and they did not have sex. She said the plan was to order some food but Boy A told her he was not hungry, before adding: “I think you know what I want to do?”
Joynes said: “I laughed awkwardly and went to join him on the couch. He asked me how many people I had slept with. I said, probably not as many as you have. I thought he wanted something to happen. There was no way that was going to happen. I explained I had been in a nine-year relationship and really struggled with the break-up and I’m not that kind of person. I told him nothing sexual was going to happen.”
She was suspended by her school during the subsequent police investigation into the incident, and later she told police that no sexual activity had taken place. She was bailed on condition she had no unsupervised contact with anyone aged under 18.
But while the case was adjourned, the court heard that the teacher started a long-term sexual relationship with another of her 15-year-old pupils, referred to as Boy B. He visited her flat aged 15, but she insisted they didn’t strike up a sexual relationship until he turned 16.
Joynes this time couldn’t deny it after she became pregnant with his child. It came as a shock to the pupil, who she previously she couldn’t get pregnant because she had polycystic ovary syndrome.
She told the court he initially added her on Snapchat, which she rejected, but when he added her again, she agreed as she thought he “wanted to tell her something”. She said a friendship developed, and went on to describe him as her “best friend”.
“I genuinely believed that he cared,” she said. Joynes said they would go on walks together, that they would message on Snapchat, and she would help him with his mock GCSEs. The defendant said Boy B made some sexualised comments towards her when he was drunk, but said she would laugh them off.
She said it wasn’t until after his birthday that he messaged her stating: “I’ve left school now” with a winky face emoji. He later went round to her apartment after she had received notice that she had been dismissed, and during an emotional conversation they had sex, she told jurors.
Boy B said Joynes revealed she was pregnant by staging an elaborate “date night” that included a Victoria’s Secret scratchcard with sexual fantasies to act on, the jury heard. The teenager said Joynes scattered rose petals in the flat, ordered a food delivery from Pizza Express, and left a “trail of surprises” with the last being a baby grow with the words “I love my daddy,” the court was told.
Their relationship quickly turned sour, with Boy B telling officers Joynes became “controlling”, and that she had asked to see his location and have his Snapchat password.
He explained: “I wanted to end it. I think she was emotionally abusing me. It was mental warfare for me. I now know it was weird the whole time. I did love her to be honest. She said she loved me and all that stuff. Every time I tried to end it she would blackmail me. It was just torture to be honest.”
He later said he “realised he sacrificed 18 months to be with a paedophile”. During the trial, Joynes, breaking down in tears, explained: “An emergency court hearing was held and she was taken off me 24 hours after she was born. At the moment I have got contact with her three times a week for three hours. That’s it.”
A victim statement read on behalf of Boy B said: “I was coerced, controlled and sexually abused, it was very upsetting this happened to me and I had little to no support from organisations.
“For months after the abuse it was a very dark time. I felt backed into a corner, I had just lived a double life for 18 months, and it had a massive mental toll on me and my family.
“It tore my family apart, they struggled to come to terms with the fact they brought me to school which was supposed to be a safe environment. My parents broke down every day and night.”
Joynes was jailed for a total of six-and-a-half years. Restraining orders against both boys were put in place and she will be on the Sex Offender Register for life.
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