New inquest into boy's death to review social media

**New inquest into boy's death to review social media**

A mother has said she is relieved after a hearing identified social media companies Meta and Snapchat as "interested persons" in the second inquest into her son's death.

Jools Sweeney, 14, from Cheltenham, died in April 2022 in what his mother, Ellen Roome, believes was an online challenge that went wrong.

Fifteen social media companies have now been asked to supply data and evidence, and Roome, who has campaigned for this, hopes they will all be "willing to help and release everything they've got so that I can hopefully get answers".

"It's been a journey", she said outside Gloucestershire Coroners court. "It's four and a half years down the line and I'm back here trying to find out why my child's not alive."

Senior Coroner Katy Skerrett said the new inquest would examine the medical cause of Jools' death, the events on the day he died including the emergency response, and his social media and online activity in the lead-up to his death.

The original inquest, which lasted 23 minutes, returned a narrative conclusion, but that finding was quashed by the High Court, which ordered a fresh hearing.

Senior judges previously heard that new evidence had emerged about the role of social media in Jools' death.

A "number of lines of inquiry" had not been followed, including that he had been contacted by a fake Instagram account run by an African crime gang shortly before his death, and that evidence from his phone showed a "possible attempt at extortion or 'sextortion'".

Jools Sweeney's parents, Matt Sweeney and Ellen Roome, are still trying to discover why their son died in 2022.

A pre-inquest review heard that tech firms Meta, which owns Instagram, and Snapchat would join TikTok, which is already an interested person in the case and has agreed to release information.

Jools' family, Gloucestershire Police and South Western Ambulance Service Trust are also named.

This gives them the right to take part in the inquest and be legally represented, although they do not have to attend or give evidence.

"I'm really pleased that the coroner is taking on board more data than they did last time," said Roome, adding that she understood there was still a long way to go.

The High Court quashed the conclusion of an inquest into Jools' death after a successful legal challenge brought by his mother.

Under Jools Law, which was introduced in April 2026 after years of campaigning by Roome, when a child dies, their data is automatically preserved within five days, meaning there "shouldn't be another parent in my position", she said.

But, she added: "We haven't achieved the ultimate goal, we've still got children being harmed and dying on social media."

After Monday's hearing, Roome said she was pleased that lawyers for TikTok had agreed to provide relevant data in an accessible format, and she hoped others would do the same.

The court heard that a resumed inquest is likely to be held in Spring 2027 and could last up to a week.

Roome said that timetable might be a "little bit ambitious but certainly keeping the pressure on so we're not delayed too much longer".