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Bereaved Mother Ellen Roome Awarded MBE as Lords Weigh Child Data Preservation Law

The honour spotlights her push for bereaved parents' access to deceased children's social media data with mandatory preservation.

Overview

  • Ellen Roome was named an MBE in the New Year Honours for services to children's online safety after the 2022 death of her 14-year-old son, Jools.
  • In a BBC Breakfast interview, she became emotional as she said peers are expected to discuss in January adding a requirement to preserve a deceased child's data to the crime and policing bill.
  • Roome is campaigning for 'Jools' Law' to allow parents access to a deceased child's social media data without a court order, having sold her business to campaign full-time.
  • She proposes routine 'digital checks' in post-mortem and inquest processes, similar to toxicology reports, to secure perishable evidence.
  • She said she would return the honour to have her son back and has voiced suspicion that a harmful online challenge may have played a role, which has not been established by authorities.