‘Reckless’ pair who felled Sycamore Gap tree jailed

Two men who cut down the Sycamore Gap tree out of “sheer bravado” have each been jailed for four years and three months.

- ALEX ROSS

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers may have hoped for a softer sentence after finally admitting their roles in chopping down the much-loved tree, which had stood for around 150 years.

Carruthers, a 32-year-old mechanic, confessed to cutting down the tree in an act of “drunken stupidity”, but claimed he could not remember committing the offence after drinking a bottle of whisky.

His onetime best pal Graham, 39, took a vantage point to film the vandalism on his mobile phone, saying he “just went along with it”.

Their explanations, however, were dismissed as not “wholly honest” by Ms Justice Lambert, who told them their mission was planned and “gave you some sort of thrill”.

At Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, the pair, who sat several metres apart in the dock, showed no reaction as they were handed their prison sentence in a courtroom packed with journalists and members of the public. Both men had already been convicted in May of criminal damage to the tree and Hadrian’s Wall.

Sentencing the defendants, Ms Justice Lambert told them their motivation was still not clear, but a large factor seemed to be “sheer bravado”.