A Manchester teacher has been jailed for six-and-a-half years for grooming and sexually abusing two schoolboys. Rebecca Joynes, 30, was found guilty of six counts of sexual activity with a child, two of which were committed while in a position of trust, following a trial in May.
Joynes groomed both pupils from the age of 15. She was on bail for sexual activity with the first boy, referred to as Boy A, when she began a sexual relationship with the second, Boy B, whose child she later gave birth to. The court heard that the abuse had a profound impact on the victims and their families.
In a victim impact statement read to Manchester Crown Court, Boy B said he had been 'coerced, controlled, manipulated, sexually abused and mentally abused'. He described the months after the abuse as 'a very dark time', adding that he had lived a double life for 18 months behind his family's back. The ordeal, he said, had 'torn my family apart'.
Sentencing Joynes, Judge Cornell condemned her 'breathtaking arrogance', noting that she was the adult in a position of trust who had exploited her role 'for her own sexual gratification'. The judge rejected any suggestion that a 15-year-old boy would welcome such attention, saying both boys were 'obviously unworldly and vulnerable' to the advances of an older woman.
Joynes was also placed on the sex offenders register for life, given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and made subject to a restraining order in relation to both boys. She was seen crying as the sentence was passed.
