Ten key moments in trial of teacher Rebecca Joynes accused of having sex with two teenage pupils
16 May 2024, 13:19 | Updated: 16 May 2024, 13:26
As jurors have retired to consider the verdicts in the case of Rebecca Joynes, a teacher accused of having sex with two teenage pupils, here are they key moments from her trial.
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Rebecca Joynes, 30, is on trial accused of six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust. She denies all charges.
The allegations relate to her relationship with two students - identified as Boy A and Boy B - whilst a teacher at a Greater Manchester School, including one whom she fell pregnant with while awaiting trial on bail.
Joynes denies any sexual activity took place, has pleaded not guilty to six charges of sexual activity with two teenagers while she was a teacher and is on trial at Manchester Crown Court.
As the jury has been sent out for deliberations today, these are the key revelations to have come out of her trial this month.
Joynes fell pregnant with boy’s baby
Joynes had already been suspended from her job and was on bail for alleged sexual activity with Boy A, 15, when she allegedly started a sexual relationship with Boy B, who she later became pregnant by.
Boy B claims sexual activity began when he was 15 with kissing and full sex when he was 16 and while he was still a pupil.
Joynes has admitted she became pregnant after she had sex with Boy B, but claims a relationship developed with him while she was suspended from her job and only became sexual after she was dismissed and he had left school at 16, so no offence had taken place.
Jurors heard that when she and Boy B were discussing her pregnancy, she reportedly told him she would “harm herself or kill herself” if he ended the relationship or "if he did he would become responsible" should she lose the baby.
Snapchat messages
Both boys were 15 when Joynes began taking each one into her flat and both had been communicating with her on Snapchat - where messages are deleted and not recoverable by police.
In both cases, the activity was a secret from their parents and they both flirted with her, Boy A calling her "sexy" and Boy B sending her a message saying: "Get your t**s out."
They both kept the messages a secret from their parents, the court heard.
When asked if she should have spoken to either boy A or B on Snapchat, she said: “Absolutely not, as a professional teacher I should have never engaged in that. I have to take accountability for that.”
Joynes said she was “lonely” and liked the “attention”
Joynes told court that she had been struggling in the covid restrictions and after a previous nine-year relationship had broken down, she said she felt lonely and “liked” the attention she received from the two teenage boys.
Asked in court if there was anything she would change about how she behaved with Boy A, she said: "Everything. 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."
Mum spotted ‘love bite’ on son
The mother of Boy A read out a statement in court describing the moment she discovered a ‘love bite’ on her son’s neck.
She said her son had returned home from school when he changed out of his uniform, packed an overnight bag and told her that he was going to stay at his best friend’s house.
She later spoke to him where Boy A told her he was playing Fifa with his friend.
Boy A told police that he had actually arranged to meet Joynes who took him back to her flat at Salford Quays, where they twice had sex, with the teacher warning him: "No one had better find out".
The following day the mother explained that she noticed a mark on her son's neck which "looked like a love bite".
"I said, 'What's that mark on your neck?'" his mother said.
"He said, 'Oh nothing, I don't know’.”
On the following Monday the mother received a call from her son's school telling her that an "allegation" had been made through an anonymous report through Childline that involved a teacher and her son.
Asked by her mum about the allegation, Boy A said it was just a “stupid conversation” and “banter” from a group chat with friends.
But the mother of the boy who her son had supposedly been staying at, when he was in fact allegedly with Joynes, later left a call for Boy A’s mother.
"I think I owe you an apology," she was told, before confessing Boy A had not been staying with her son at her house - and that she had picked him up from an address in Salford the day after that belonged to the teacher.
Gucci belt
The court heard that Joynes bought Boy A a £345 Gucci designer belt during their visit to the Trafford Centre before they went back to her flat at Salford Quays where they twice had sex, it is alleged.
In the coming weeks, rumours began to circulate and a police investigation followed with the defendant was suspended by her school. She later she told police that no sexual activity had taken place.
Joynes was subsequently bailed on condition she has no unsupervised contact with anyone aged under 18.
Six words Joynes allegedly told pupil ‘before undressing’
Boy A told police Joynes had given him 10 of the 11 digits of her phone number and he worked out the missing digit to first make contact with her.
Within days they were exchanging Snapchat messages and after finishing school on a Friday afternoon she picked up Boy A in her car and later drove him to her flat where they had sex, the court heard.
Boy A also told officers about a comment she made about driving. The boy said he responded to her "I'm not old enough" to know that, as he was too young to drive.
Joynes laughed and replied: "Oh shut up! Stop saying that!," it is alleged.
Back at the flat, the pair allegedly sat on the edge of her bed and started to kiss.
Boy A described the incident: “She took her jacket off and took her stuff off. As she was getting undressed she said, 'No one had better find out'."
Love letters
Joynes told court she sent a letter to Boy B, which read: “Every inch of you is perfect. You are all I ever dream about."
She told the court “I was in love with him” and “pregnant with his child" in the year after he left school.
Joynes planned a ‘date night’ before revealing pregnancy
The court heard how Joynes allegedly planned a ‘date night’ with boy B, which involved a scratchcard of sexual activities, rose petals and notes hidden around her flat.
At the end of the trial, she took out a baby’s grow and revealed she was pregnant.
Boy B said of the moment: “At the end it was a baby grow. It said something like, 'Best Dad' and I was like, 'What the f***.' She started crying and I started crying, because we were undecided whether to get rid of it or not.
"That was probably the lowest point, we were irresponsible. It's my own fault. I also thought, 'what the f*** am I going to do?' I can't hide a kid. I had hid the relationship for 18 months from my parents."
Wearing a baby’s bonnet to court
Joynes attended court with a pink baby’s bonnet tucked into the waistband of her trousers across different dates of the trial.
The bonnet belonged to the child fathered by one of the teenagers she is accused of having sex with and whose virginity she took, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Asked by the prosecution if she had brought the baby’s bonnet to garner sympathy from the jury, she said: “No. Definitely not" adding “I sleep with this every night”.
Joynes’ baby was taken away hours after giving birth
Joynes sobbed as she told jurors their baby was taken away from her hours after giving birth and she now only has limited access, three times a week.
She gave birth to a girl in January who she said she was taken away “24 hours after she had been born”.
