How college was rocked by paedophile instructor scandal
Paedophile teacher Rebecca Joynes liked to play the ‘cool girl’ and was more sociable with students than staff, a school insider has revealed.
The disgraced maths teacher was last week convicted of sexual activity with children after she slept with with one pupil before falling pregnant by a second.
Just days after the damning conviction, a former colleague of Joynes, 30, has revealed how the shocking scandal eroded the relations between pupils and staff as a ‘toxic’ atmosphere led to an exodus of ‘distraught’ staff.
‘They completely stopped trusting us,’ the teacher at the secondary school in Greater Manchester told The Times.
She added that after Joynes was suspended, rumours started to spread that she had been buying alcohol for teenagers whom she had invited to her flat for a party.
As the scandal engulfed the school, eight male pupils jokingly identified themselves as Joynes’ victims on an online group. Others made TikTok videos calling her a ‘paedo’ who ‘likes kids’ and graffitied the toilet with ‘Free Ms Joynes’.
Paedophile teacher Rebecca Joynes (pictured) liked to play the ‘cool girl’ and was more sociable with students than staff
Joynes covers her face as she leaves Manchester Crown Court with her father on May 17
Joynes was suspended in October 2021 after Childline received a report that she had had sex with a 15-year-old pupil after buying him a £345 Gucci belt and driving him to her home
Joynes was described as acting like a ‘cool girl’ who would stop to chat with female pupils about fashion during breaks and would ‘strut’ down corridors between classes while they cheered her on.
Looking back, they feared this was ‘over-friendly’. In contrast, although Joynes had a good working relationship with her colleagues, she never interacted with them ‘on a personal level’.
‘Rebecca never joined,’ the colleague told the newspaper. ‘Even the near-retiring teachers would have had a drink.’
A court heard that Joyce also allowed a third boy to visit her home twice, although no sexual activity took place.
The teacher was suspended in October 2021 after Childline received a report that she had had sex with a 15-year-old pupil after buying him a £345 Gucci belt and driving him to her home.
While on bail for having sex with the pupil, she then became pregnant by one of his classmates, whom she slept with around 30 times.
It was finally exposed after she confessed to the second teenager – to whom she wrote a love letter saying ‘Every inch of you is perfect’ – that she was pregnant with his child.
Rebecca Joynes arriving at Manchester Crown Court on Friday before being found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust
Damningly he told police it had dawned on him that he’d ‘sacrificed 18 months for a paedophile’.
‘She just basically mentally abused me,’ he added.
A jury found Joynes guilty of six charges of engaging in sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust. She will be sentenced in July.
The former colleague said that Joynes’ crimes were made worse by the fact the pandemic had left children on a slower ‘developmental track’.
They added: ‘I would say that the Year 11s were Year 9s in terms of maturity levels.’
Colleagues were told to stop contacting Joynes and remove her from any WhatsApp groups when she was suspended. But it’s understood that under-16s were still able to contact her on Snapchat.
At first, teachers were told that Joynes was asked to leave over a serious safeguarding complaint.
The former colleague, who is speaking out over her concerns about how the school dealt with the scandal, said it was children who informed teachers about the allegations.
Their behaviour quickly deteriorated, with students going ‘off the wall’ and acting like they were ‘untouchable’.
Parents who were upset about their children’s GCSE results blamed it on the fact ‘we have teachers f***ing our kids’.
The ex-colleague said she was shocked to find out Joynes was leading a ‘double life’, adding: ‘If I asked any of the students who their favourite maths teacher was, all the kids would’ve said, ‘Ms Joynes. [She] is so funny, she’s a really cool teacher and she gets us’.’
Throughout the trial Joynes arrived to court each day wearing a baby’s bonnet tucked into the waistband of her trousers. She later denied this was to ‘win sympathy’ from the jury – but they were not convinced
Joynes was found guilty of having sex with two 15-year-old pupils, one of whom she bought a £345 Gucci belt from Selfridges at the Trafford Centre
Joynes, whose parents run a successful tea-room in an upmarket part of the Wirral, had moved away following a messy break-up to start her ‘dream job’ at a school in a deprived area of Greater Manchester.
She was bombarded with comments from boys in her Year 11 maths class about how ‘sexy’ she was and earned the nickname ‘Bunda Becky’, a slang reference to her bottom, Manchester Crown Court heard last week.
A childhood friend described Joynes as ‘always very quiet’ and said they were ‘shocked and very upset’ for her family, adding: ‘
I would never have thought she would be capable of something like this.’
After being found guilty, Joynes closed her eyes and grimaced, before she began visibly shaking as she stood in the dock as the verdicts were returned by the jury foreman.
Rebecca Joynes pictured with her long-term partner before the crimes took place
Rebecca Joynes pictured with her father Stuart and mother Mel, who run a café selling tea and cakes in Heswall
Joynes denied six counts of sexual activity with a child, two of them while in a position of trust but was found guilty
Her mother and father, sat in the public gallery, made no reaction but yards away the parents of the boys stifled cheers as Joynes was convicted.
Upon her guilty verdict, Jane Wilson, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: ‘Rebecca Joynes is a sexual predator.
‘Joynes was entrusted with the responsibility of teaching and safeguarding children. She abused her position to groom and ultimately sexually exploit schoolboys. Her behaviour has had a lasting impact on them.
‘The CPS worked with Greater Manchester Police to build a strong case to put before the jury, including eyewitness testimony, phone evidence showing the messages sent by Joynes and CCTV footage.
‘I would like to thank the victims for supporting the prosecution. Joynes will now face the consequences of her actions.’
