In what's being called 'a British legal first', Gloucestershire mum and social media safety campaigner, Ellen Roome MBE, has won a four-year battle for a fresh inquest into the death of her teenage son.
On Thursday 16 July 2026, the High Court of England and Wales ordered a fresh inquest into Jools Sweeney's death to allow previously omitted social media evidence to be examined.
Jools died unexpectedly in April 2022 at the age of fourteen. His family are 'deeply concerned' about the role social media may have played in his death, due to a dangerous challenge which was circulating on social media at the time – but crucial details of what Jools was consuming on social media in the hours before his death weren't made available in the original inquest, which lasted just 23 minutes.
Ellen commissioned a forensic analysis of Jools' phone, which uncovered evidence that had not been provided to the coroner during the original investigation.
The High Court's ruling, which is believed to be the first of its kind in England and Wales, overturns the previous inquest on the grounds that there was a 'total absence' of any social media evidence which may have enabled the coroner to examine the role social media may have had in Jools' death.
The new inquest will draw on powers under the Online Safety Act 2023 and the Data Use and Access Act 2025 to compel social media companies to disclose data relevant to a child's death – meaning that finally, Ellen and her family may now get the answers they've been seeking.
Along with her quest for answers for her own family, Ellen has been campaigning tirelessly to improve online safety for all children, achieving a landmark change in the law to automatically preserve children's social media data after a death in February 2026, and being awarded in MBE for services to child online safety.
She 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.
Ellen hopes that today's ruling 'will show other bereaved parents that persistence can make a difference'.
She 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.'
