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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Alex Ross

Predator teacher Rebecca Joynes caught smirking as she buys teenage victim £350 Gucci belt before sex

GMP

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Disgraced teacher Rebecca Joynes was caught on CCTV smirking as she bought a teenage boy a Gucci belt before taking him home to have sex twice.

The pupil, then aged 15, went shopping with the 30-year-old to the Trafford Centre after telling his mother he was going to a friend’s to play computer games.

CCTV from the store showed her smiling as the boy sized up the belt before she paid £350 for it on her card.

Separate CCTV released by Greater Manchester Police showed her leading the boy to her apartment where they had sex twice - but she was caught when the boy’s mother spotted a love-bite on his neck.

On Thursday, Joynes was jailed for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of six counts of sexual activity with two boys; sleeping with one pupil before falling pregnant by a second while on police bail.

Joynes smirked as she bought a £350 belt for a teenage boy (GMP)

Passing sentence, Judge Kate Cornell told the defendant: “There is a breathtaking arrogance in your conduct. You were the adult.

“You were the person in control, the person who should have known better and entrusted by the school and the boys and by their parents of caring for their sons.

“Instead, you abused that position of trust and exploited the privileged role for your own sexual gratification.”

Joynes, who wept during the sentencing, had joined the school in Manchester in 2018, as part of the Teach First teacher recruitment scheme after studying for a sports and exercise science degree.

The teacher smiled as the pupil tried on the belt in a shop (GMP)

After a messy break-up following a nine-year relationship, she told a trial she was “flattered” by attention received by teenage school boys.

The first boy - the boy she bought the Gucci belt for - got her number after she gave him all but one of the digits, as a maths problem-solving exercise, and he had to work out the final digit.

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

After their trip to the Trafford centre, and sex at her flat at Salford Quays, she told the boy: “No-one had better find out.”

Rebecca Joynes appears shocked as she is arrested at her home in Salford (Greater Manchester Police)

But the next day, the boy’s mother noticed the love-bite on her son’s neck and by Monday morning rumours were circulating, with the boy’s distraught mother storming into the school reception as police were called in.

Joynes was investigated by police - but that did not stop her starting a relationship with the second boy, who went round for a “date night” involving an Ann Summers scratchcard of sexual activities at her home.

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

Rebecca Joynes groomed the youngsters from the age of 15 (PA Media)

Outside court, Detective Constable Beth Alexander, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “It’s clear from some of the public commentary when Joynes was convicted that there is still a lack of understanding when it comes to men and boys being the victims of sexual offences.

“They have had to read comments stating others are ‘jealous’ of them, and that they should be ‘happy a young female teacher was interested in them’, and this rhetoric is very damaging and dangerous.

“Women can still be paedophiles; this term is not reserved only for men. Men and boys can still be victims of sexual abuse.”

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