Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Read more
A teacher who was convicted for having sex with two boys, becoming pregnant by one, has been banned from the profession.
Maths teacher Rebecca Joynes, 31, was jailed for six and a half years in July last year after being found guilty of six counts of sexual activity with a child, after sleeping with one pupil before falling pregnant by a second while on police bail.
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) convened earlier this month via a virtual hearing, which Joynes did not attend, to consider her professional conduct. A panel recommended she be banned from teaching.
Marc Cavey, chief executive of the TRA, concluded: “Rebecca Joynes is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against her, I have decided that Ms Joynes shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of her eligibility to teach.”
A jury heard last year that Joynes had cultivated relationships with the boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, over Snapchat messages and groomed them with attention. She bought one boy a £350 Gucci belt during a trip to the Trafford Centre.
She would go on to take the boy back to her flat in Salford Quays, where they had sex twice before Joynes told the teenager: “No one had better find out”. But the next day the boy’s mother spotted a love bite on her son’s neck and the police were called.
open image in gallery
Rebecca Joynes groomed the youngsters from the age of 15 (Greater Manchester Police/PA) (PA Media)
Joynes was suspended pending a police investigation. But this did not stop her from inviting a second boy to her apartment for a “date night” that involved an Ann Summers scratchcard of sexual activities.
She became pregnant with the boy and gave birth last year, but the child was taken away from her.
The TRA panel said that they found no evidence that Joynes’ qualities as a teacher outweighed the serious nature of the conviction, noting “the profound impact” that Joynes’ offending had on her victims, and that she had “scant regard for the seriousness of her actions”.
It found Joynes was in breach of standards, including upholding public trust in the teaching profession and having an understanding of professional duties.
Mr Cavey, in his decision, wrote: “I am particularly mindful of the finding of a teacher being convicted of offences involving sexual activity with more than one pupil in this case and the very negative impact that such a finding is likely to have on the reputation of the profession.
“I have had to consider that the public has a high expectation of professional standards of all teachers and that the public might regard a failure to impose a prohibition order as a failure to uphold those high standards.”