News, North East and Cumbria
Two men have been found guilty of the “mindless destruction” of the world famous Sycamore Gap tree, the felling of which sparked international outrage.
The tree had grown in a dip on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland for more than 100 years before it was cut down in a “moronic mission” in the early hours of 28 September 2023, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Daniel Michael Graham, 39, from Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Wigton in Cumbria, were each convicted of two counts of criminal damage.
Prosecutors said the pair carried out the “mindless thuggery” as a “bit of a laugh” but, when they realised the public’s fury, they were too cowardly to confess.
Jurors took about five hours to reach their verdicts with both men remanded into custody for their “own protection” ahead of sentencing on 15 July.
The value of the tree had previously been estimated at more than £620,000 but that figure was now in dispute – although that would not affect the men’s sentence, which could be up to 10 years in prison, the court heard.
The tree had been planted in the late 1800s to be a “feature in the landscape”, fulfilling that ambition and more by becoming a much-loved visitor destination and landmark at the former frontier of the Roman empire.
It found global fame after featuring in a scene of the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner, and was popular with photographers and artists.
Graham and Carruthers, who had been best friends before falling out “spectacularly” in the aftermath, used the cover of darkness to travel from Cumbria and attack the tree with a chainsaw, jurors heard.
While one cut the tree down, taking less than three minutes to destroy what had taken more than a century to grow, the other filmed it on Graham’s phone, with the pair then carrying away a wedge of the trunk as a “trophy”.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said it had been a “moronic mission” and the men had thought it was “just a tree”, while all right-thinking people had been angered and saddened by the “arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery”.
He said the pair initially revelled in the public’s outrage but, when they realised they would become public enemy number one, were too scared to admit their actions.
Graham, whose phone and car were tracked going to and from the site, and on whose mobile the felling video had been recorded, had sought to blame Carruthers.
Carruthers, who jurors were told had probably made a “recce” of the remote site earlier in the day, claimed he had “no clue” who did it.
Welcoming the verdicts, the National Trust, which had owned the tree since the 1940s, said the “needless” felling had “shocked” people around the world.
A spokesperson said the tree was an “emblem” of north-east England and was a “backdrop to many personal memories”.
They said there would be a “positive legacy” however, with 49 saplings grown from the tree set to be distributed to charities and organisations across the country.
Supt Kevin Waring of Northumbria Police said no explanation had ever been offered for the felling, but “there never could be a justifiable one”.
After the verdicts were announced, the court heard there was a dispute over the valuation of the tree although all parties agreed it would not actually affect the sentence the men eventually get, which according to sentencing guidelines could be up to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors had initially valued the damage to the tree at £622,191, but Graham’s barrister, Christopher Knox, said the authorities had since lowered their estimate to about £450,000 while his team reckoned the true figure to be “much lower than that”.
Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor at CPS North East, said the tree had stood for more than a century, adding: “In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction.”
