Accused in Sycamore Gap case Says it was just a tree’

One of the two men accused of cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree couldn’t believe the public outcry over the tree’s felling, remarking that it was just a tree”.

- KATIE DICKINSON and TOM WILKINSON

Adam Carruthers, 32, and Daniel Graham, 39, both deny two counts of criminal damage to the Northumberland sycamore and to nearby Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree came down in September 2023.

Now in its second week, the trial at Newcastle Crown Court heard yesterday how Mr Carruthers believed the reaction to the damage was “almost as if someone had been murdered”.

Prosecutors say Mr Carruthers and ground worker Mr Graham drove overnight from Carlisle to the Northumberland landmark during Storm Agnes in September 2023 and cut the tree down with a chainsaw. Each of the men denies two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it.

Mr Carruthers was asked why he had shown so much interest in the story the day after the tree was cut down. He said: “On the morning I woke up, I had looked online and it was all over Facebook. I was thinking, ‘What’s going on here?’ It was everywhere.