Ellen Roome wept as judges at the High Court granted her bid to re-open the inquest into the death of her son Jools Sweeney after years of battling for answers
The inquest into a 14-year-old boy whose mum believes he may have died in an online challenge gone wrong is to be re-opened after the original conclusion was quashed at the High Court.
Ellen Roome wept as judges granted her bid to re-open the inquest into the death of her son Jools Sweeney. She applied to the High Court earlier this year for another inquest, arguing that potential social media evidence was not obtained or examined
Jools, from Gloucestershire, was found unconscious in his bedroom in April 2022. An inquest into his death in September of that year lasted 23 minutes and called no live evidence before returning a narrative conclusion. His family are concerned about the role social media played in his death and fear he may have taken part in the “blackout challenge”, an internet trend in which users choke themselves.
Ms Roome said today’s ruling shows there “are questions which deserve to be answered” in relation to the death of her “beautiful son”. She said her years-long fight is not only for Jools but so no other parent is forced “to bury their child because dangerous content was allowed to reach them”.
Her lawyers told a hearing on Thursday that new evidence had come to light concerning the role of social media in Jools’ death, and that a “number of lines of inquiry” which were not pursued at the original inquest “bear directly upon TikTok’s platform and the data it holds”.
The coroner and TikTok did not oppose the bid to re-open the inquest. At the end of the hearing in London, two senior judges quashed the conclusion and ordered a new inquest to take place at a later date.
After the hearing, Ms Roome said: “For more than four years we have fought every single day for the truth about what happened to our beautiful son, Jools. Today, the legal system has finally recognised that there are questions which deserve to be answered.
“This journey has broken us at times. It has taken an enormous emotional toll on our family, but we could never stop. We fought not only for Jools, but for every family who deserves to know the truth about how their child died.
“No parent should have to spend years battling for evidence that could explain the loss of their child. Every bereaved family deserves to know that every possible avenue, including a child’s digital life, has been properly investigated.
“But our greatest hope is that one day no family has to walk this path. Social media companies must do everything in their power to stop children dying in the first place. No parent should ever have to bury their child because dangerous content was allowed to reach them.
“This ruling means that, at last, a coroner can examine Jools’ digital life using legal powers that did not exist when he died in 2022. We hope this is a turning point, not only in finding the truth about Jools, but in making the online world safer for every child.
“To every parent facing the unimaginable, please don’t give up. We never stopped fighting for our son, and today’s decision shows that hope should never be lost. If Jools’ legacy helps protect even one child or gives one family the answers they deserve, then he will have changed the world.”
During the hearing, Lord Justice Warby, sitting with Mrs Justice Heather Williams, said: “We have concluded that the application should be granted.”
He continued: “It is desirable in the interests of justice for a new inquest to be held.” The judge said that it was “simply not possible to know at this stage whether the same conclusion will be reached after appropriate investigations”, and that it would be for the coroner conducting the new inquest to decide its scope.
But he added that it was “now clear that there are various potential lines of inquiry” that had not previously been considered, many of which had become known because of the “tireless investigations undertaken by Ms Roome”.
Ms Roome has campaigned for years for a change in the law to automatically preserve a child’s data after their death. In a victory for her campaign, ministers in February announced an “Jools’ Law” amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to force social media firms to preserve the data.
She is also among a group of British parents suing TikTok over their children’s deaths. Separately, Ofcom on Thursday said it has launched an investigation into TikTok over children’s risk of exposure to harmful content. The media regulator said it has “particular concerns about the effectiveness of TikTok’s approach to age assurance”.
Today’s ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in England and Wales where one of the key grounds in overturning the previous inquest was the total absence of any social media evidence which would have enabled the coroner to examine the role social media may have played in Jools’ death.