Summary
A grieving Cheltenham mother has reflected on a ‘bittersweet’ few months – and says she hopes her late son would be ‘incredibly proud’ of all she has achieved in his memory. Ellen Roome, 50, lost her only child , Jools Sweeney, when he was just 14 years old in April 2022.
Details
She believes his death was the result of a social media challenge gone wrong – but has never been able to access her son’s social media data from the days leading up to his death. Ellen said she spent almost two years after her son died “simply trying to survive the unimaginable grief”.
But in April 2024 she launched a government petition campaigning for ‘Jools’ Law’ – the right for parents to have full access to their children’s social media data. The campaign called for automatic preservation of a child’s digital data, as well as a clear, standardised process for all cases, and immediate action in the critical hours after death. Within a month, Ellen’s petition had reached 100,000 signatures.
However, it wasn’t until February of this year that Ellen received a call from Secretary of State Liz Kendall, confirming that the government intended to introduce the automatic preservation of children’s social media data when a child dies. And on April 29, 2026, Jools’ Law was written into an amendment in the Crime and Policing Bill. But that wasn’t the only milestone Ellen reached this year.
Just weeks later, on July 16, the High Court in London ruled to overturn Jools’ original inquest . It had been held in September 2022 and lasted 23 minutes, before returning a narrative conclusion without calling any live evidence. Want to see more of the stories you love from GloucestershireLive?
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Ellen is set to attend a preliminary hearing at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court next month, on Monday, November 2 – something that did not happen ahead of Jools’ first inquest. In the meantime, Ellen is set to receive a Special Recognition award at the Pride of Britain Awards tonight (October 19), as our sister title the Daily Mirror celebrates unsung heroes across the country .
The recognition is alongside Ian Russell and Esther Ghey, with all three parents praised for “working tirelessly to bring about legislative change to protect young lives across the UK”. Speaking about the awards, Ellen said: “It’s very strange, it feels very bizarre. I didn’t do any of this to win an award, I did it to look for answers and to make a difference for other children.
