Pair deny blame for 'moronic mission' to fell much-loved tree

TWO men who allegedly carried out a “moronic mission” to fell the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree appeared to have been “revelling” in the infamy of their “mindless vandalism” and recorded it on a phone, a court heard.

- ROB KENNEDY Court Reporter

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers are standing trial accused of cutting down the tree, which had stood next to Hadrian's Wall, in the Northumberland National Park, for more than a century but took just minutes to destroy. Jurors heard the pair, friends at the time, travelled from their homes in Cumbria, with a chainsaw to commit “an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage”.

While one of them allegedly cut the tree down, the other is said to have filmed the act on Graham's mobile phone. The footage was played in court and there is the sound of a chainsaw and the silhouette of a figure at the tree, which can be seen and heard to topple over after two minutes and 41 seconds. The pair are also said to have taken a wedge of the tree away from the scene as a “trophy”.

Graham, 39 and Carruthers, 33, deny causing criminal damage to the tree and to Hadrian’s Wall and are standing trial at Newcastle Crown Court, where jurors were told the issue in the case is “who did it”.

Opening the case, Richard Wright KC said: “For over a century, and until the evening of Wednesday September 27, 2023, a sycamore tree had stood in the Northumberland National Park. The tree stood in a dip, next to Hadrian’s Wall, which is itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“Over many years the tree, and its situation, became a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, feature films, and art. This tree, that was held high in the affections of so many members of the public, had come to be known as the Sycamore Gap.

“By sunrise on Thursday September 28, 2023, the tree had been deliberately felled with a chainsaw in an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage. It fell onto a section of Hadrian’s Wall, causing irreparable damage, of course, to the tree itself, and further damage to the wall.

“The prosecution say that two men are responsible for that mindless vandalism, the defendants Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers.”