Bereaved parents of 14-year-old Julian ‘Jools’ Sweeney from Cheltenham hope the new inquest they campaigned for will provide vital answers – with social media evidence expected to be examined for the first time.
Thanks to a tireless four-year campaign by Jools’ mother, Ellen Roome MBE, a new inquest into his death opened at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court on Monday 2 November 2026, with a Pre-Inquest Review.
Jools died unexpectedly in hospital in April 2022 after being found unresponsive at home.
His mother Ellen and his father Matt Sweeney remain deeply concerned about the possible role social media could have played in his death.
The original inquest lasted just 23 minutes, heard no oral evidence and did not examine Jools’ social media activity – which led Ellen to challenge its findings.
Ellen’s tireless campaigning, for which she was awarded an MBE, led to the introduction of Jools' Law, a landmark legal change which requires the automatic preservation of a child's online and social media data within five days of their death. This was written into the Crime and Policing Act in April 2026.
In a British legal first, she won a landmark judgment at the High Court in July 2026 which quashed the Senior Coroner for Gloucestershire's conclusion after the original inquest.
Ellen said: ‘For more than four years, we have been fighting to find out what happened to our son, Jools. His online life was never examined, vital questions were never asked, and we were left without the answers we desperately needed.
‘I have never claimed to know exactly what happened to Jools. That is precisely why I have fought so hard for a fresh inquest. I want every piece of evidence examined, every relevant witness heard, and every possible avenue properly investigated.
‘Getting the original inquest overturned was a huge step, but it was never the end goal. The end goal has always been to find out the truth about what happened to our son.
‘Jools deserved a proper investigation from the beginning. Matt and I cannot change what happened to him, but we hope that by continuing this fight, we can finally get the answers he deserves and help ensure that no other family has to go through what we have.’
Gloucestershire Coroner's Court heard that a resumed inquest is likely to take place in spring 2027 and last up to a week.
Ellen is also part of a lawsuit against TikTok LLC, TikTok Inc. and ByteDanceInc in the US, along with other bereaved British parents whose children died in similar circumstances.
Amid her campaigning success this year, she won a Pride of Britain Award in October 2026 in special recognition of her services to children's online safety.
