Friends filmed Sycamore Gap tree felling, trial told

Two men filmed themselves chopping down the famous Sycamore Gap tree before "revelling in" their infamy when news broke of the irreparable damage to one of the country's most treasured landmarks, a court has heard.

- KEVIN DONALD ALEX ROSS

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers are also accused of keeping a wedge of the trunk as a trophy from the destruction of the tree in a dip on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland on the morning of 28 September 2023.

The pair are alleged to have driven from Carlisle to the Sycamore Gap to chop down the tree with a chainsaw. Prosecutors say one man cut across the trunk, causing it to fall, while the other recorded the act on a mobile phone. They then sent messages to each other the next day about the story going “wild” and “viral”, with prosecutors saying they were “excited” about what they had done.

Mr Graham, 39, of Milbeck Stables, Carlisle, and Mr Carruthers, 32, of Church Street, Wigton, Cumbria, are each charged with two counts of criminal damage – one to the tree and one to the ancient Roman-built wall which is a Unesco world heritage site. Both deny the charges.

Opening the trial to jurors at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said the Sycamore Gap tree had stood for over a century in the Northumberland National Park, becoming “a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, feature films, and art”.

Mr Wright told jurors: “By sunrise on Thursday September 28, the tree had been deliberately felled with a chainsaw in an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage.”