Inquest into death of Jools Sweeney, 14, to be re-opened after High Court ruling
Ellen Roome, Jools’ mother, sought to quash the inquest’s original conclusion.
The inquest into the death of a 14-year-old boy after what his mother believes was an online challenge gone wrong is to be re-opened after the original conclusion was quashed at the High Court.
Jools Sweeney, from Gloucestershire, died in April 2022, but an inquest into his death in September that year lasted 23 minutes and called no live evidence before returning a narrative conclusion.
Jools’ mother, Ellen Roome, began a legal challenge against the senior coroner for Gloucestershire to have the conclusion quashed and the inquest re-opened.
Her lawyers told a hearing on Thursday that new evidence had come to light concerning the role of social media in Jools’ death, and 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.”
Ms Roome, who attended the hearing, wept as the judges handed down their ruling.
Her barrister, Harry Lambert, said in written submissions that the Attorney General gave her the go-ahead to proceed with her legal challenge in March, with Gloucestershire Police also reviewing its investigation into Jools’ death.
He said: “A considerable body of new evidence and a number of investigative insufficiencies have come to light, in particular concerning the role of social media, and of TikTok specifically, in the events leading to the deceased’s death.”
He also said that evidence from Jools’ TikTok data was “highly probative of overuse or addiction”.
But Mr Lambert continued that the re-opened inquest “could take many directions” and that “several of the most significant lines of inquiry that were never pursued in 2022 have nothing to do with TikTok”.
He said that these included the possibility that Jools’ Instagram account was hacked or that conversations before his death took place on social media platforms other than TikTok.
Mr Lambert also said that a fraudulent Instagram account operated by an African crime gang contacted Jools shortly before his death, and that evidence from his phone found a “possible attempt at extortion or ‘sextortion’”.
He said: “Together, this material provides a much fuller evidential platform and paints a more comprehensive and potentially different picture of how the deceased came by his death.”
He added: “The applicant’s concern is simply that all of these matters be fully and fearlessly investigated, whatever the outcome.
“She seeks only the truth about how her son died, wherever the evidence may lead.”