'Moronic mission' to fell iconic tree

TWO friends launched a “moronic mission” to fell the famed Sycamore Gap tree in an act of “mindless vandalism” and filmed it on a mobile phone, a jury has been told.

- By Paul Jeeves

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers used a chainsaw to chop it down using a “wedge” technique that showed “expertise and a determined, deliberate approach to the felling”, it is alleged.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how one of the men cut across the trunk, causing the sycamore to fall and hit Hadrian's Wall, while the other defendant filmed it on Graham's mobile phone.

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