MPs to debate Jools Law to allow bereaved parents access to children’s social media
MPs will today debate a change in the law proposed by a bereaved mother who believes social media may hold crucial clues to her son’s death.
Jools Sweeney was 14 when he was found unconscious at home in April 2022.
His parents and friends who saw him earlier that day say there were no signs he was depressed.
A coroner found he took his own life, but that he probably did not intend to, as he was unable to confirm he was in a suicidal mood.
His mother Ellen Roome suspects he may have taken part in an online challenge.
She has spent two years trying to get access to his social media accounts but says the tech companies have made it “very difficult”.
Her petition to allow bereaved parents or guardians to access a child’s full social media history attracted 126,000 signatures, known as Jools Law, and will be debated in parliament later.
“Earlier in the day he was playing football with a group of friends,” she said.
“You can see on our security camera he said goodbye to his friend, all chirpy, an hour and a half before I got home.
“We can’t have all, his parents, friends, teachers, grandparents, missed depression. And so we’re left with these huge question marks,” she said.
“The pain in my heart of not knowing what happened that night or why is incredibly hard. I don’t want another family to go through it.”
‘It’s my gut feeling and I just want to know’
MPs are to debate Ellen Roome’s suggestions
Ms Roome, 48 from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, fears her son may have taken part in an online challenge which led to his death.
The police and coroner did not gather forensic data from his phone.
With help from her son’s friends, Ellen has been able to unlock his phone and access some of his accounts, but some material has been deleted.
She says the tech companies have not given her full access to what Jools was looking at before his death.
“I have always said I don’t know it’s social media but that’s always been my gut feeling and I just want to know – it’s the missing piece of the jigsaw,” she said.
“He did an awful lot of challenges, like standing on his hands putting a t-shirt on upside down. I thought they were fun, viral challenges. I never knew about some of the more dangerous ones.
“The police didn’t ask for the data from social media companies. The detective didn’t even find out he had more than one TikTok and Instagram account.”
She says the social media companies have not given her all his messages and browsing history.
“They could say ‘here it is, I hope you get some answers’. They could redact the details of other children.”
Jools died a week after 12-year-old Archie Battersbee from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, was left brain-damaged by what a coroner concluded was an online prank and later died.
Sky News has contacted Meta, which owns Instagram, as well as TikTok and Snapchat. None provided an on-the-record statement, but they are understood to have been in contact with Ms Roome.
Ms Roome wants access to her late son’s social media
Police ‘supporting’ family
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire Constabulary said they were limited in what they could request because it was not a criminal case.
“We cannot fathom how upsetting it must be for the family to not have answers after Jools took his own life.
“We supported the Sweeney family and coroner’s office throughout an investigation into the cause of his death.
“As part of this Jools’s phone was given to police and a review of the contents took place, as well as the manual review of a TikTok account. Nothing was found as part of these searches to provide any answers.
“Police are limited in what lines of enquiry can be taken to access private social media accounts hosted by private companies due to legislation, which states that you have to be proving or disproving an indictable offence, which is not applicable in this case and therefore there was no legal basis to apply for a production order.
“We know this sadly doesn’t help Jools’ family get the answers they are searching for, and we continue to support them with their own application for access to his social media accounts.”
A TikTok representative held a meeting with Ms Roome last year and explained that the law requires companies to delete people’s personal data – unless there is a police request for it.
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‘I don’t want any other family in my position’
In April 2024, new powers allowing coroners to require the production of social media evidence were introduced. Jools’s inquest was by then closed.
Ms Roome is preparing a case to go to the High Court to get a fresh inquest and is crowdfunding the £86,000 cost to find answers.
The government issued a response to Ms Roome’s petition, saying that tech companies should respond to requests from bereaved parents in a “humane and transparent way”.
A new Digital Information and Data Bill, to be passed this year, would compel social media companies to retain data in cases where a child has died, so a coroner can request it.
But Ms Roome is worried it would not compel coroners and police to request the data.
Peter Kyle has said he will be looking ‘very, very closely’ at the issue. Pic: PA
“I don’t want any other family to be in the position I am two-and-a-half years after my son’s death. It should be automatic,” she said.
Her lawyer Merry Varney, partner at Leigh Day, also represented the family of Molly Russell who fought for months to access what she saw online.
‘It’s left to parents to fill the gaps’
Ms Varney told Sky News: “Getting that information is incredibly difficult, it’s a moving target. You’ve got the posters of the content, they control whether it’s deleted or made private.
“The social media companies take this line ‘it’s not for us, it’s not our responsibility’, which makes for a very challenging set of circumstances – and it’s not right.
“There’s a lot the social media and tech platforms say about wanting to help, to be seen to be doing the right thing. But are they transparent about the gaps? No.
“It’s left to the parents to fill the gaps themselves and it can be costly and difficult.”
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Technology Secretary Peter Kyle spoke to Sky News in November. He said: “Coroners have the power now to compel the release of that data so it can be looked at.
“I’m going to be looking very, very closely at how those powers are used, that all coroners know that they have those powers and then if there’s any additional powers that are needed going forward, then, of course, you know, I’m all ears to see how that could work.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
After a summer dominated by criticism over the small boats crisis and asylum hotels, Labour says it’s planning to overhaul the “broken” asylum system.
As MPs return to Westminster today, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will speak about the government’s success in tackling people smugglers and plans for border security reform.
August saw the lowest number of Channel crossings since 2019 – but the last year has the most on record. Pic: Reuters
Labour hopes that the raft of changes being proposed will contribute to ending the use of asylum hotels, an issue which has led to widespread protests over the summer.
Ms Cooper will set out planned changes to the refugee family reunion process to give “greater fairness and balance”, and speak to the government’s promise to “smash the gangs” behind English Channel crossings.
National Crime Agency (NCA) figures show record levels of disruption of immigration crime networks in 2024/25. Officials believe this contributed to the lowest number of boats crossing the Channel in August since 2019.
But, despite the 3,567 arrivals in August being the lowest since 2021, when looking across the whole of 2025, the figure of 29,003 is the highest on record for this point in a year.
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Labour says actions to strengthen border security, increase returns and overhaul the asylum system, will result in “putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels”.
In a message to Reform UK, which has promised mass deportations, and the Tories, who want to revive the Rwanda scheme, Ms Cooper will say: “These are complex challenges, and they require sustainable and workable solutions, not fantasy promises which can’t be delivered.”
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The town at boiling point over migration
While the home secretary will look back at the UK’s “proud record of giving sanctuary to those fleeing persecution”, she will argue the system “needs to be properly controlled and managed, so the rules are respected and enforced, and so governments, not criminal gangs, decide who comes to the UK”.
She will also give further details around measures announced over the summer, including the UK’s landmark returns deal with France, and update MPs on reforms to the asylum appeals process.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp dismissed Ms Cooper’s intervention as a “desperate distraction tactic”, reiterating record levels of illegal Channel crossings, the rise in the use of asylum hotels and the highest number of asylum claims in history in Labour’s first year.
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Richard Tice reveals how navy would deal with small boats
Sir Keir Starmer too, says he intends to “deliver change,” using a column in Monday’s Mirror to criticise the Tories and Reform UK for whipping up migrant hatred.
And the prime minister isn’t the only one to hit out at Reform UK’s flagship immigration plan, with the Archbishop of York accusing it of being an “isolationist, short-term kneejerk” approach, with no “long-term solutions”.
In response, Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the archbishop was “wrong” in his criticism.
Anti-asylum demonstrators in Epping, Essex. Pic: PA
Mr Tice, who is the MP for Boston and Skegness, said he was a Christian who “enjoys” the church – but that the “role of the archbishop is not actually to interfere with international migration policies”.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal will hand down its full written judgment in the Bell Hotel case today, which saw Epping Forest District Council fail in an attempt to stop asylum seekers from being put up there.
Protests continued in Epping on Sunday night, with police arresting three people.
An anti-asylum demonstration also took place in Canary Wharf on Sunday, which saw a police officer punched in the face and in a separate incident, a child potentially affected by synthetic pepper spray.
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