One of two men on trial for cutting down the iconic Sycamore Gap tree had a “fascination” with it and thought it would make a good trophy, Newcastle Crown Court has heard.
Adam Carruthers had a “strange interest” in the tree, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said.
Carruthers, 32, and Daniel Graham, 39, each deny two counts of criminal damage to the Northumberland sycamore and to the nearby Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when it came down in September 2023.
On the fourth day of their trial, Graham said his co-accused had spoken of wanting to cut down the tree beside the Roman wall, keeping a piece of string in his workshop to measure its circumference and ordering a chainsaw he said was “big enough” for the job.
Graham also told the court his co-defendant rang him the morning after the tree was felled and claimed to be the person responsible.
He claimed Carruthers asked him to take the blame for the crime “because he had mental health issues” and would be treated more leniently.
Prosecutors say Carruthers, a mechanic, and Graham, a groundworker, drove from Carlisle overnight during Storm Agnes to the Northumberland landmark.
The court had already heard the men sometimes worked together and had experience felling large trees.
Richard Wright KC put it to Graham that Carruthers had “a fascination” with and a “strange interest” in tree, saying: “He talked about it in the sense of it would be a good trophy.”
Graham replied: “I suppose so, yeah.”
He said he remembered Carruthers ordering a big bar chainsaw and saying it was big enough to cover the circumference of the Sycamore Gap tree.
He also said his former friend had mentioned the tree in 2021. “He laid this string on the floor, put it in a big circle, that was the circumference of the Sycamore Gap tree,” Graham told jurors.
“At the time I didn’t know of the tree… He told me it was the most famous tree in the world.”
Graham said Carruthers had used the string to measure the tree’s circumference.
He said he first realised his Range Rover had been taken out that night when he saw it had been moved the next morning.
He said it was not unusual for him to leave his phone in the vehicle overnight because he “liked to get away from his phone” after a day at work.
He told the jury other people could use his iPhone, including people who worked for him who used it to connect to the internet as a hot spot.
Earlier, the court heard that Graham made an anonymous call to the emergency services’ 101 number, saying his former close friend was responsible for the crime.
Graham said they had been friends for about three years but he turned on Carruthers when the Sycamore Gap investigation started affecting his business.
He told the court: “My name is associated with my business and I started to have people phoning my business giving me abuse about the tree.”
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.
