Disgraced teacher Rebecca Joynes, who had sex with two teenage pupils - one of whom she had a baby with - has been found guilty on all counts.
Joynes, 30, was already suspended from her high school job and on bail for alleged sexual activity with one 15-year-old boy when she allegedly took the virginity of a second boy, known as boy B, 16, who she later became pregnant by. Neither teenager can be identified for legal reasons.
Today, a jury at Manchester Crown Court found her guilty of six counts of sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust. She will be sentenced at a later date.
Over the last several days jurors heard claims and counter-arguments about the teacher's state of mind and the dozens of instances detailing her engaging in sexual activity with the teenagers. Joynes gave birth to a child with the second alleged victim, identified only as Boy B.
Here is everything we know about Rebecca Joynes so far:
She felt 'lonely and craved attention' after a breakup
Rebecca Joynes said she struggled after the breakdown of a nine-year relationship coupled with Covid restrictions – and ‘liked’ the attention she had been receiving from a 15-year-old pupil.
She said: “I let my guard down. I caved into 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."
Joynes said she was "curious" about another one of the boys, known only as Boy B, contacting her on Snapchat and they "opened up" to each other as friends. "I genuinely believed that he cared," she said. But the teacher maintained that she never had sex with the boys.
She groomed victims with flashy gifts and love letters
Joynes had at one point bought one of her victims a £345 Gucci belt.
Manchester Crown Court heard Joynes groomed Boy A by buying him the designer belt before taking him back to her flat in Salford, Greater Manchester, where they had sex twice. Police later seized CCTV from the Trafford Centre showing Joynes and the boy who she allegedly bought the belt for. Prosecutors said this constituted "grooming."
Joynes was also accused of planning a "date night" with Boy B that involved a scratchcard of sexual activities, rose petals and hidden notes around the flat. At the end of the trail, Joynes produced a baby grow for their child.
She also wrote a gushing love letter to a teenager, adding he was "everything I ever dream about." During the trial prosecutor Joe Allman continued to read out the letter to the jury. Joynes reportedly told the 16-year-old, known as boy B: "Every inch of you is perfect. You are all I ever dream about."
Speaking about the note, Joynes said: "This was a year after he left school. I was in love with him. I was pregnant with his child.
She messaged her victims on snapchat
Joynes admitted to chatting with 15-year-old, known as boy A, after she gave him nine digits of her number and he guessed the other two. Boy B also sent her Snapchat messages.
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 **** out."
When asked about whether she should have talked to the boys on Snapchat, Joynes replied: “Absolutely not, as a professional teacher I should have never engaged in that. I have to take accountability for that.”
She had sex with teenage school pupils in her flat
The teacher had sex with one of the boys at her flat after the pair went shopping at the Trafford Centre.
Boy A recalled to police what had happened at Joynes's flat. He said: "I remember feeling it was a bit weird, in the moment going up the stairs."
Boy A said he sat on the edge of the bed and the pair started to kiss. He continued: "She took her jacket off and took her stuff off. As she was getting undressed she said, 'No one had better find out'." The boy said they had oral sex, adding: "she said, 'how do you want to do it then?"', before Joynes got on all fours on the bed, the court heard.
Boy A continued: "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 said he took a shower and they remained in bed for a couple of hours before he suggested more sex.
Meanwhile, Boy B argued that they had sex while he was still a schoolboy, and claimed Joynes straddled and kissed him.
She told one boy to 'shut up' when said he 'wasn't old enough'
Manchester Crown Court heard how the teacher laughed and said "Oh shut up!" to one of the boys when he told her, "I'm not old enough" to drive.
Joynes had made a comment about driving after picking the 15-year-old boy from school in her car, before going to her flat where they allegedly engaged in sexual activity. The boy, known only as Boy A, said he would not know about that as he was too young to drive - which Joynes while laughing replied, "Oh shut up! Stop saying that!" it was alleged.
Shortly after, the pair went to Joynes' flat where they allegedly engaged in sexual activity.
Joynes had a baby with a 16-year-old known as Boy B
Joynes, 30, fell pregnant after sleeping with Boy B, 16, while already on bail and suspended from her teaching job after she was accused of sleeping with a 15-year-old.
She wept in court as she revealed to jurors that the baby was taken from her '24 hours after being born' and now sees her 'three times a week for three hours', Manchester Evening News reported.
At the time, Ms Joynes denied six counts of sexual activity with a child.
She brought a pink baby bonnet to court to 'garner sympathy'
On one of her trial days, Joynes had brought a pink baby bonnet to 'garner sympathy', a court heard.
She was already suspended from her job and was on bail for allegedly having sex with the child, known as boy A, 15, when she had sex with the student - known as boy B, 16, who she later became pregnant by.
Manchester Crown Court jurors heard Joynes and boy B argued and could not decide whether to keep the baby or have an abortion.
Joe Allman, prosecuting, opened by asking Joynes why she had appeared in the witness box with a pink baby's bonnet visible, tucked into the top of her trousers, and whether she was trying to get sympathy from the Jury. "No. Definitely not," Joynes said. "I sleep with this every night."
Joynes said she 'wasn't committing an offence by doing any of it'
The disgraced teacher insisted to a jury she “wasn’t committing any offence”.
Joynes instead admitted she had broken safeguarding rules as a teacher by being in contact with the boys on Snapchat and then having them back at her apartment.
While pregnant with his child, she was alleged to have written to Boy B: "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."
Asked by Mr Allman whether the letter was part of a bid to "manipulate" Boy B "to stop him leaving you", Joynes replied: "No... We were in a relationship, I was in love with him, I was pregnant with his child." She added the letter was written "a year after he left school".
Mr Allman put it to Joynes that she would "insinuate" to Boy B that she would "harm" herself or kill herself if he ended the relationship, or that "if he did he would be responsible if you lost the baby". Rejecting the accusation, she claimed her words to him had been: "I can't do this any more. I wasn't committing an offence by doing any of it... Things got really difficult when I fell pregnant."