Disgraced teacher Rebecca Joynes, who groomed a pupil and then fell pregnant with his baby, will have little contact with their child behind bars.
The former maths teacher, 30, was today sentenced to six and a half years in prison at Manchester Crown Court, after being found guilty of six counts of sexual activity with a child, including two when she was a person in a position of trust. Judge Kate Cornell told Joynes there was a "gross breach of trust" and a "significant degree of planning of grooming behaviour".
The convicted sex offender was found guilty of having sex with a 15-year-old boy, known as Boy A, then fell pregnant by a second teenager, 16, known as Boy B, while on bail for sleeping with the first. Joynes gave birth to their baby in January this year, but following an emergency court hearing, the tot was taken away almost immediately.
Joynes sobbed in court as she recalled the moment her baby was handed over to authorities and said it happened "24 hours after" the infant had been born. She said in May: "At the moment, I have contact with [my baby] three times a week for three hours and that's it."
She has spent much of her pregnancy locked up in HMP Styal, just outside Manchester in Cheshire, which houses some of the region's most vulnerable and heavily convicted women. It is now believed Joynes will see out her sentence in Styal - which is classified as a closed prison, indicating a higher level of security.
Styal has a mother and baby unit and it is believed the ex-teacher will be able to continue to see her baby behind bars, however, visits will be under strict control. Rules state that a prisoner with a child under 18 months old can apply to bring their child to prison with them.
At her sentencing today, Boy B shared a statement, read to the judge by the prosecutor Joe Allman. In it, he said he would be the one supporting their baby while she was in jail: "The most innocent victim is our child, and I've come to realise how important my role is in ensuring they are supported by love. I understand the difficulty and impact this will have on my child," he said.
"They will not have their mum present, and this will leave them with questions. I have no doubt I will have to deal with the questions that come. This is not what I wanted when I picture having children with someone I loved, the way I have been brought up, sadly this is not the case."
The day before Joynes was arrested for a second time over sexual contact with the 16-year-old teen, she organised a 'date night' for them at her flat in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, to tell him she was pregnant. It involved an Ann Summers scratchcard of sexual activities, rose petals and hidden notes that led to 'surprises'.
It ended with a babygrow that had words written on it saying: "I love my daddy to the moon and back." Boy B - who cannot be named for legal reasons - told the jury in May: "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." Boy B said Joynes initially told him she could not have a baby when they had unprotected sex, but then discovered she was pregnant. The relationship soured with frequent rows as Joynes became jealous and controlling, he claimed.
He said on one occasion Joynes turned up at a pub where he was with friends, including girls, and he went out to her car. "She was crying her eyes out and she said, 'If I lose this baby, it's your fault'. She was just crying, 'Why does this always happen to me?' She's got trust issues," he said. "Now I think about it, it was emotional abuse. She just basically mentally abused me."
The youngster told the court he lied to his parents about going to a Manchester United game on the evening that Joynes reportedly picked him up in her Audi A1 and took him back to her flat where he lost his virginity.
"Obviously, it was my first time, so I was nervous," he said. "I said something like, 'Don't expect anything big, I'm only 16 or whatever', and she was laughing. Then when we first had sex, pulling my pants down, she said, 'Oh! You lied to me'. There was a kind of tension because I was 16 now, I said, 'I'm legal'. It lasted 40 minutes to an hour. I didn't climax. I did keep getting frustrated.
"She would just be like, 'Chill out, take your time'. She said, 'Don't get frustrated, it happens.' I was 16 and I thought I had blown it. She was like, 'It's your first time, it was great'." He added: "From then on it just progressed every chance I got."