A 30-year-old teacher, Rebecca Joynes, has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for engaging in sexual activity with two of her teenage students.
What went down
The trial revealed that Joynes had groomed both boys, who were 15 years old at the time, by first connecting with them through social media.
The court heard that Joynes failed to maintain proper boundaries as their teacher.
Joynes developed secret relationships with the boys, called “Boy A” and “Boy B” in this case. She maintained communication with them via Snapchat and sending flirtatious texts.
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The court further heard that Joynes bought a £345 Gucci belt for Boy A before having sex with him. She also told him that “no one better finds out,” according to a statement he made to the police.
Boy A, in a statement to the police, said that the teacher gave him her phone number with a missing last digit. He was able to figure it out and they began exchanging messages on Snapchat.
He added that Joynes picked him up in her white Audi A1 car after school one day. They went to the Trafford Centre where she bought the belt for him.
Additionally, they drove back to her flat at Salford Quays where they had sex twice.
The situation only worsened when Joynes became pregnant by the second boy, Boy B, while already on bail for sexual activity with Boy A.
Speaking on the matter, Boy B, the father of Rebecca Joynes's child said, “I struggled to come to terms with my abuse, I was completely in denial.”
Boy B said he feels like he has “betrayed someone I love and done wrong by giving evidence.” But has come to terms with “the full extent of the abuse carried out on me and the tactics that were used to do so.”
Rebecca Joynes' sentencing
In sentencing Joynes, the judge said that she was an adult in a position of authority. And she had a responsibility to uphold professional standards. Instead, she knowingly and repeatedly betrayed the trust placed in her as a teacher.
Judge Kate Cornell stated that Joynes' actions had harmed the lives of the two young victims. She was sentenced to six and a half years in jail.
Addressing Joynes, the judge said, “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.”
