The High Court has quashed the original inquest into the death of 14-year-old Jools Sweeney and ordered a new inquest after his mother argued that potential social media evidence was not obtained or examined. Ellen Roome wept as judges granted her bid to reopen the inquest into the death of her son, who was found unconscious in his bedroom in Gloucestershire in April 2022.
The original inquest in September 2022 lasted just 23 minutes and called no live evidence before returning a narrative conclusion. Jools' family fear he may have taken part in the "blackout challenge," an internet trend in which users choke themselves. They have long believed that social media played a role in his death.
New evidence and legal arguments
Ms Roome's lawyers told a hearing on Thursday that new evidence had come to light concerning the role of social media in Jools' death. They argued 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 reopen 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. Lord Justice Warby, sitting with Mrs Justice Heather Williams, said: "We have concluded that the application should be granted. It is desirable in the interests of justice for a new inquest to be held."
Mother's campaign and reaction
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." She added: "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."
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 a "Jools' Law" amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to force social media firms to preserve data. She is also among a group of British parents suing TikTok over their children's deaths.
Implications and ongoing investigations
Lord Justice Warby noted 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. 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."
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.
Ms Roome expressed hope that the ruling would be a turning point: "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."
