The original inquest into the death of Jools Sweeney lasted just 23 minutes and heard no oral evidence. It did not examine social media evidence, which was unavailable at the time. Now, in a landmark ruling at the high court, a fresh inquiry has been ordered – one that will finally consider the digital footprint left by the 14-year-old schoolboy from Gloucestershire.
Jools died in April 2022. His mother, Ellen Roome, and father, Matt Sweeney, have long believed social media played a role, pointing to the popularity of the “blackout challenge” on TikTok. On Thursday, Lord Justice Warby and Mrs Justice Heather Williams overturned the original inquest’s findings and ordered a new one, saying it was “now clear there are various potential lines of inquiry” that had not been considered.
“High court orders new inquest into Jools Sweeney's death after original heard no social media evidence.”
Roome, who wept in court as the judgment was read, later commissioned a private forensic analysis of Jools’s phone – work that uncovered evidence the original investigation never saw. Her barrister, Harry Lambert, said that material from Jools’s TikTok data was “highly probative of overuse or addiction”. The ruling is believed to be the first in England and Wales in which the lack of social media evidence was a main ground for quashing an inquest.
“For more than four years, we have fought every single day for the truth about what happened to our beautiful son Jools,” Roome said. “Today, the legal system has finally recognised that there are questions which deserve to be answered.” She added: “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.”
Roome’s campaign for “Jools’ law” – which requires tech companies to automatically preserve a child’s online and social media data within five days of their death – was written into the Crime and Policing Act on 29 April 2026. Anthony Jones, representing TikTok, said the company did not oppose Roome’s proposal and “could certainly see” the merit of the legislation.
The fresh inquest will now examine the social media evidence omitted from the original hearing – a step that could set a precedent for how the courts treat digital data in unexplained child deaths.
