Teacher groomed schoolboy for sex before falling pregnant with another pupil, jury hears

A teacher became pregnant by a schoolboy while she was on bail for allegedly having sex with another pupil, a jury has heard.

Rebecca Joynes, 30, of Pensby Road, Wirral, is on trial at Manchester Crown Court 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 the charges.

Ms Joynes is said to have groomed her first alleged 15-year-old victim, Boy A, by buying him a £345 Gucci designer belt from Selfridges during a shopping trip at the Trafford Centre, before taking him to her then flat in Salford where they allegedly had sex twice.

A police investigation followed and she was suspended from her school. Ms Joynes later told police no sexual activity had taken place and she was bailed on condition she have no unsupervised contact with anyone aged under 18.

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She is then alleged to have become pregnant by a different teenager, Boy B, while on bail for the case involving Boy A, the jury was told. Opening the case on Monday, prosecutor Joe Allman said Boy A went on to attend court and answer questions from Ms Joynes’s barrister in a recorded cross-examination.

Mr Allman said: “The case was then adjourned to await the rest of the trial but in the meantime it turned out that Ms Joynes had been in a fairly long-term sexual relationship with another of her 15-year-old pupils.

“In due course (Boy B) gave his own account. He said Ms Joynes was his teacher, that they were in contact while she was suspended and that he went to her flat when he was 15.

“They kissed and then after he turned 16 they struck up a full sexual relationship from which she ended up pregnant to his very great shock because she had told him she couldn’t get pregnant because she had polycystic ovary syndrome.

“So remarkably and, in all honesty quite brazenly, this was all happening while Ms Joynes was on bail to this court. Of course she can’t deny that sexual relationship because she became pregnant with (Boy B’s) child and she had (Boy B’s) child.

“Instead this time she claims the sexual activity didn’t start until he was over 16 and she had been finally dismissed from the school.”

Mr Allman said Boy A told police that Ms Joynes had given him 10 of the 11 digits of her phone number and “challenged him” to guess the remaining digit. She went on to suggest he stay over at her flat, said Boy A, who “at first thought she was joking”, the court heard.

Mr Allman said Ms Joynes picked him up in her white Audi near to his home and stopped off at a doggy day centre to pick up her dog which she dropped off at her parents’ home in Wirral. The prosecutor said: “She then drove him back to Manchester and took him to the Trafford Centre where they went to the Gucci stand at Selfridges and she told him he could pick a belt.”

In the early evening they arrived at her apartment at Salford Quays where they sat on the sofa and then went on to the bedroom where they stripped naked and had sex, the court heard. Boy A told police that the defendant had told him several times that “no-one better find out”, the jury was told.

The pair later had sex again, he said, and by this point he was “pretty confused” and told two friends on Snapchat about what had taken place, the court heard. Mr Allman said that over the weekend “somewhat predictably” one or both of the friends told others and “a rumour began to circulate”.

An anonymous tip-off to Childline also followed as police visited the school the following week, the court was told. The prosecutor said both communicated via Snapchat and that the messages were largely irretrievable but one was recovered from Ms Joynes containing a heart and three kisses.

Boy B told police he was aware that Ms Joynes was suspended when he met her at her flat and they kissed when he was aged 15, the court was told. Mr Allman said Boy B had sent her a “crude” message which read: “Get your tits out”, to which she replied: “Not tonight.”

Ms Joynes was also said to have sent him a photograph of her bum with her only wearing knickers, the court heard. Boy B said Ms Joynes later revealed she was pregnant by him and she presented a Victoria’s Secret scratch card with sexual fantasies to act on, the jury heard.

The teenager said Ms Joynes scattered rose petals in the flat for the “date night”, ordered a food delivery from Pizza Express and left a “trail of surprises” with the last being a baby grow with the words “I love my daddy,” the court was told.

Boy B said that Ms Joynes was “very jealous and controlling of him”, the jury heard. Ms Joynes denies two counts of sexual activity with Boy A, two counts of sexual activity with Boy B and two counts of sexual activity with Boy B while being a person in a position of trust.

The two-week trial continues on Wednesday.

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