Bereaved mum looks for answers after son's death

Ellen Roome has been asking for access to Jools' social media accounts since he took his own life in April 2022

A bereaved mother has said getting more rights for parents would take her one step closer to making something positive come out of the loss of her son.

Ellen Roome, from Cheltenham, believes her 14-year-old son Jools died after an online challenge went wrong and his social media accounts could provide the evidence needed.

She has been campaigning for "Jools' Law", which would allow parents to access the social media accounts of their children if they die, and the petition is due to be debated in parliament on Monday.

"It's my one goal to try and make something positive out of the loss of Jools, not just me but for the families who have already lost children and families going forward," she said.

Jools was found unconscious in his bedroom in April 2022. An inquest into his death found he took his own life.

The coroner at the time said it was unlikely he intended to end his life, but the exact events leading up to his death were unclear.

Forensic data of Jools' phone was not gathered at the time and Ms Roome has been asking for access to his social media accounts for more than two years.

"To lose a child under any situation is horrific, but to lose a child and not understand why... everybody in his life thought he was a normal happy kid," Ms Roome said.

Ms Roome has spoken to many families in a similar situation to her

Ms Roome has spent tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees trying to get the data from Jools' accounts - with little success.

She said she did not want any other parents to go through the same thing.

"I would love the law to be changed," Ms Roome said.

"I don't have any other children to protect, so this is for other children."

Some social media companies have told Jools' family that they can not release the data because of issues around privacy - concerned other people may be identified in the messages.

But Ms Roome wants them to just blur the names out.

'Extra protections'

The BBC approached TikTok, X, Snapchat, Discord and Meta - which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads - to ask about Ms Roome's case.

None of them gave a formal response, but a spokesperson from Snapchat previously said: "Our hearts go out to Ms Roome and her family for the loss of Jools.

"We have extra protections for under 18s and offer parental tools so parents can see who their teens are communicating with and report any concerns."

A spokesperson for TikTok has also previously said the company had removed 99% of videos showing or promoting dangerous content before it was reported by a user.

Lola McEvoy MP is backing the efforts of Ms Roome and will speak on her behalf on Monday

Politicians have been discussing the potential damage mobile phones and social media are doing to young people more and more.

Australia recently banned social media for under 16s and thousands of parents across the UK are campaigning to ban smart phones for children.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is responsible for online safety in government.

"In tragic cases where a child's death is linked to social media, the Online Safety Act empowers coroners to access more data from platforms when investigating the death of a child," a spokesperson said.

"We recently strengthened these measures through new data laws to ensure information can be preserved after a child's death to help bereaved families get the answers they need."

But Ms Roome said these measure did not currently go far enough and she would continue to campaign not only for herself, but for other families also tragically affected.

"There's an awful lot of parents out there in the same boat and who also want answers," she said.