‘Sex predator’ teacher facing jail

A young schoolteacher who had sex with two teenage schoolboys faces jail when she is sentenced on Thursday.

“Sexual predator” Rebecca Joynes was granted bail after being convicted but was warned by the judge that, despite being the young mother of a baby fathered by one of the boys, she should be “under no illusion” about what to expect.

The 30-year-old was found guilty by a jury at Manchester Crown Court in May of six sex offences following a two-week trial.

Joynes had groomed the pupils from the age of 15 and 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.

Neither boy can be identified.

Petite, softly-spoken and described by the teenagers as “really pretty”, Joynes joined the school in 2018, as part of the Teach First teacher recruitment scheme after studying for a sports and exercise science degree at university in Liverpool.

But at the age of 28, the former childhood gymnast had undergone a messy break-up after a nine-year relationship, struggled during the Covid pandemic, and was lonely when she became “flattered” by the attention of teenage schoolboys, her trial heard.

Joynes, referred to by the boys as “Bunda Becky”, would “laugh off” inappropriate comments, instead of shutting down the behaviour.

Boy A got her mobile number after she gave him all but one of the digits as a maths problem-solving exercise in which he had to work out the final digit.

They connected on Snapchat and he sent her flirty texts, with the pair then agreeing to meet in secret.

Boy A lied to his mother that he was staying at a friend’s house to play Fifa after school finished on Friday, but instead Joynes picked him up near his home in her Audi A1, took him to Manchester’s Trafford Centre and bought him a £350 Gucci belt.

Back at her flat in Salford Quays, they kissed and 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 and by Monday morning rumours were circulating with Boy A’s distraught mother storming into the school reception as police were called in.

Joynes was suspended from her job and warned not to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 as police investigated.

But she then began a relationship with Boy B.

He lied to his parents that he was off to watch a Manchester United match but instead went to Joynes’ apartment, where he lost his virginity to the teacher.

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 in fact she later discovered she was pregnant.

She invited Boy B round for a “date night” 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.”

She gave birth to their son in early 2024, but the child was taken away from her within 24 hours.

In court, Joynes had a pink baby’s bonnet tucked into her trousers which was visible to jurors, a “naked attempt to garner sympathy”, prosecutor Joe Allman said.

She denied any sexual activity with Boy A ever took place and claimed that 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 because she was no longer in a position of authority.

Joynes was convicted of six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust.

She will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court later on Thursday.