Accused may have thought tree-felling 'a bit of a laugh'

TWO men accused of cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree may have thought the “arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery” was “a bit of a laugh”, a court heard.

- ROB KENNEDY

Jurors trying Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers over the illegal felling of the world-famous tree in Northumberland National Park have now heard the closing speeches of prosecution and defence barristers. Graham, 39 and Carruthers, 32, deny causing criminal damage to the tree and Hadrian’s Wall, onto which it fell when someone used a chainsaw to cut through the trunk.

Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told jurors at Newcastle Crown Court the pair realised they “weren't the big men they thought they were” when they saw the public outrage over the chopping down of the much-loved landmark in September 2023.

Making his closing speech to jurors yesterday, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: “From Felixstowe to Falkirk, from Bishop Auckland to Barnstable, up and down the country and across the world, the reaction of all right-thinking people to the senseless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has been one of sadness and anger.

“Who would do such a thing? Why would anyone do such a thing? Take something beautiful and destroy it for no good reason.

“Go to the trouble of causing irreparable and senseless damage to an adornment to the rural landscape of Northumberland, and in the process damage the ancient structure of Hadrian’s wall. Then take away a souvenir of your moronic mission.

“The public indignation, anger and downright disgust has been palpable hasn’t it? But, so it appears, that it came as something of a shock to Adam Carruthers.”

Mr Wright reminded jurors that Carruthers had said during his evidence that it was “just a tree” and the reaction was “as if somebody had been murdered”.