A teacher accused of having sex with teenagers told a court she felt lonely and ‘craved’ attention after a break-up – but denies wrongdoing.
Rebecca Joynes said she struggled during the Covid restrictions and a nine-year relationship breakdown, but has maintained she never had sex with the boys.
Joynes, 30, was already suspended from her high school job and on bail for alleged sexual activity with Boy A, 15, when she allegedly took the virginity of a second youngster, 16, who she later became pregnant by.
She denies any sexual activity took place, has pleaded not guilty to six charges of sexual activity with two teenagers while she was a teacher and is on trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Joynes stood in the witness box to answer questions from prosecutor Joe Allman with a pink baby’s bonnet tucked into the top of her trousers.
Mr Allman began his questions, asking if she was trying to get sympathy from the jury with the bonnet.
Joynes replied: ‘No. Definitely not. I sleep with this every night.’
Her barrister, Michael O’Brien, asked if there was anything she would change about how she behaved.
Joynes said: ‘Everything. As a teacher I should never have engaged in any form of contact with a student.
‘I let my guard down. I caved in to 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.’
Mr Allman asked: ‘When an adult has an inappropriate relationship with a child, of 13, 14, 15, that’s the adult’s responsibility, nothing to do with the child being provocative, or making the first move, or trying to get the adult’s number, is it?’
Joynes said no, and also said she didn’t have a ‘powerful sexual attraction to boys aged 15’ when asked.
Mr Allman asked: ‘And you say you were not contemplating sex?’
‘No,’ Joynes said. Mr Allman continued: ‘Does lying come quickly to you?’
Joynes said no, but later did admit to Mr O’Brien that she swapped messages on Snapchat with Boy A and agreed for him to stay at her apartment – but that he slept on her sofa and they did not have sex.
She said the plan was to order some food but Boy A told her he was not hungry, before adding: ‘I think you know what I want to do?’
Joynes then joined the lad on the couch, and was asked how many people she had slept with, to which she said: ‘Probably not as many as you have.’
She added: ‘I thought he wanted something to happen. There was no way that was going to happen. I explained I had been in a nine-year relationship and really struggled with the break-up and I’m not that kind of person. I told him nothing sexual was going to happen.’
She gave birth to a daughter she had with Boy B, but her child was taken away 24 hours after she was born when an emergency court hearing was heard.
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 hearing continues.
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