Inside Rebecca Joynes' fall from grace - bitter break up to grooming kids

Rebecca Joynes has described teaching as her "dream job", but her career has been destroyed after she was sentenced to six-and-a-half years for having sex with two of her pupils.

She targeted two boys who were in her Maths class, even having a baby with one of them after abusing the boy on more than 30 occasions.

Joynes was pictured arriving at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday covering her face while her father helped shield her from the cameras.

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

While on bail for the first offence, she went on to start a relationship with the second boy.

Joynes told the court she was just "lonely" but this didn't stop the jurors from finding her guilty.

The disgraced teacher targeted her first victim by sending him pictures of herself in a thong. They later had sex in her flat.

She then "fell in love" with her second victim, who was also 15, after she was suspended for her actions with the first.

Police were alerted to the crimes via an anonymous Childline tip-off.

In court, Joynes admitted she liked the attention she recieved: "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."

The court heard how Joynes groomed her first victim by buying him a £345 Guccia belt before taking him to her flat in Salford, Greater Manchester. They had sex there twice.

The first victim, known as Boy A, told police that he was given all but one of the numbers for Joynes' phone number and that she "challenged" him to find the missing digit.

Joynes picked him up in her white Audi, Prosecutor Joe Allman said.

He added: "She then drove him back to Manchester and took him to the Trafford Centre where they went to the Gucci stand at Selfridges and she told him he could pick a belt."

After they had sex, Boy A was told by Joynes that "no-one better find out" about what had happened, the court was told.

Boy A said he was "confused" after having sex with Joynes a second time, adding: "I remember feeling it was a bit weird, in the moment going up the stairs.

"She took her jacket off and took her stuff off. As she was getting undressed she said, 'No one had better find out'. She said, 'how do you want to do it then?

"Then after that I was like, turn over, and she turned over on her back on the bed. At the time, I literally thought to myself this is weird."

Boy A recalled how he said to Joynes "I pray you don't get pregnant", to which she replied: "I don't know if I can be anymore."

Joynes told the court that the boy slept on her sofa and that they never had sex.

She added: "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."

Joynes was suspended by the school and police began their investigation. While the case was adjourned, she started a sexual relationship with Boy B.

She says the relationship did not become sexual until she was 16. This time, it was impossible to deny a sexual relationship after she became pregnant.

Boy B said Joynes had told him that she could not get pregnant.

Joynes said it was after his 16th birthday when Boy B left her a text saying "I have left school now" along with a winky face emoji. Boy B claimed they had sex after an emotional conversation.

He alleged that Joynes became "controlling" during their relationship, adding: "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.

"I would try and end it and would say 'you are a f****** weirdo, go find someone your own age'. Then I would calm down and feel bad about, and go back to her. She would say things like she didn't want to be here anymore, then go on a walk or a drive and it would mess with my head as I was worried about her."

Joynes gave birth to their baby, but the child was soon taken from her. She told the court she has "contact with her three times a week for three hours. That's it."

Joynes wrote letters to Boy B saying "Every inch of you is perfect and you are all I ever dream about" and said in another: "I know we are struggling right now and are both extremely stressed but I really hope we can work something out to keep this going for a while longer."

Joynes was asked by prosecutors whether this was done to "manipulate" the 16-year-old.

She replied: "No. We were in a relationship. I was in love with him. I was pregnant with his child."

Prosecutor Mr Allman pressed Joynes on whether she had used threats of self-harm to stop him from leaving her.

She said she had been "stupid" but denied using these kinds of threats. She claimed her words were: "I can't do this anymore. I wasn't committing an offence by doing any of it... Things got really difficult when I fell pregnant."

"Speaking to my family, I had made mistakes. I had basically ruined my chances with my dream job. was stupid but I did choose that option, obviously I was breaking my bail conditions.”