Sycamore Gap trial live: Daniel Graham reported Adam Carruthers to police for felling tree in ‘anonymous phone call’ – UK Times

Daniel Graham said Adam Carruthers and a friend called Lindsay Dalgleish came to his home and stood on his driveway.

Asked what they discussed, Graham said: “If it gets on top, would I take the blame because I have mental health issues. Apparently they would be more lenient with me.”

Graham said he was not keen to take the blame and said no.

Chris Knox, defending, asked: “What was their reaction?”

Graham replied: “They tried to goad us on (saying) ‘Nowt will happen to you, you will get away with it’.”

He said the tone was serious, not jokey. He said the conversation happened after the pair had been released and interviewed by police.

The trial broke for lunch.

Chris Knox, defending, said clearly two people had been involved on the night – one person cutting down the tree and one filming.

Graham said he did not discuss with Carruthers who the other person was.

“Adam felled the tree, I don’t know 100% who the other person was,” Graham said from the witness box.

Daniel Graham said co-accused Adam Carruthers had spoken of wanting to cut down the tree.

“He mentioned it,” he told the court. “He mentioned a lot of things, I didn’t take it seriously.”

Graham said he remembered Carruthers ordering a big bar chainsaw and saying it was big enough to cover the circumference of the Sycamore Gap tree.

Graham said that in 2021 Carruthers had mentioned the Sycamore Gap tree while they worked on his father’s Land Rover.

Graham said he wanted to use a piece of string on the job, but Carruthers said he could not as it was “sentimental”.

“He laid this string on the floor, put it in a big circle, that was the circumference of the Sycamore Gap tree.

“At the time I didn’t know of the tree.”

Chris Know, defending, asked: “Did he explain any more?”

Graham replied: “He told me, it was the most famous tree in the world.”

The defendant explained Carruthers had used the string to measure the tree’s circumference.

Daniel Graham has told the court he had no idea that the Range Rover was being driven on the night the tree was felled.

He tells the jury other people were able to use his iPhone, including if people who worked for him did not have data, they would be allowed to connect to the internet via a hot spot.

The prosecution say that on Graham’s iPhone, video was discovered that showed the Sycamore Gap tree being chopped down.

Suspect Daniel Graham has just told the court that his co-accused Adam Carruthers rang him the morning after the tree had been cut down, claiming to be the one responsible.

Graham said he spotted his Range Rover – which the prosecution said was used by the pair to get to Sycamore Gap – had been moved the morning after the tree came down.

Asked about a call Carruthers made to him that morning, Graham said: “It was Adam claiming he had cut down the Sycamore Gap tree, claiming that it was him that cut it down.

“I told him he was talking sh*te, I didn’t believe it.”

Daniel Graham says he and co-accused Adam Carruthers were “best of pals” in September 2023.

He says Carruthers had “done him a good turn” by getting his father’s Land Rover fixed and ready for his funeral.

Asked by his barrister Chris Knox if he would have any hesitation lending Carruthers his Range Rover, Graham says: “I would have lent him owt, anything.”

Asked whether Carruthers had asked to borrow the Range Rover on this occasion, Graham replies: “Adam wouldn’t need to ask to borrow anything of mine. He was welcome to it.”

Graham says he would sometimes fell trees as part of his groundwork business, but would also get separate requests for tree work, which he and Carruthers did together

He tells the court Carruthers worked at a company called Cumbria Turf.

Daniel Graham is now asked about his Range Rover, which the prosecution claim was used by him and co-accused Adam Carruthers to travel from Carlisle to Sycamore Gap on the night the tree was felled.

Pictures have also been shown to the jury of a wedge of tree and a chainsaw, the prosecution say, were taken in the car boot.

Graham tells the court he allowed other people to use his Range Rover, saying he kept the keys for it in the ignition or behind the sun visor, as it had no sentimental value, was around 15 years old at the time and had done 150,000 miles.

He names three men who would borrow the vehicle, explaining how two of them had needed a temporary replacement after experiencing problems with their own cars.

Chris Knox, defending, asking if he used the Range Rover much himself.

Graham said: “Very rare, normally I’m in a wagon.”

Starting his evidence, Daniel Graham says: “No I did not,” when asked if he had anything to do with cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree, or damaging Hadrian’s Wall.

He gives the same response when asked by his barrister Chris Knox whether he had any idea it was going to happen, or participated in any way, including by watching.

When asked if he knew how his Range Rover and mobile phone were at Sycamore Gap on the night it was felled, Graham says: “I know who was driving my car.”

He adds that the Range Rover had been in the yard of his property that night, and his mobile phone was in the vehicle.

We heard yesterday in the police interviews read to the jury that suspect Daniel Graham said his Range Rover was available for other people to use for work.

The prosecution say the Range Rover was used by Graham and Adam Carruthers to drive to the Sycamore Gap.

Detective Inspector Calum Meikle, the officer in charge of the case, is asked by Mr, representing Carruthers, if he had found any evidence to support Daniel Graham’s claim that he lent his vehicles to other people. He replies: “None whatsoever.”

Asked if he had found anything on Graham’s mobile phone to suggest anyone else had used it, Mr Meikle says: “No.”