One of two former pals accused of chopping down the famous Sycamore Gap tree at Hadrian’s Wall claimed he was being framed for the crime by someone ‘stirring the pot’.
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers are said to have driven 40 minutes to the Northumberland beauty spot to carry out the ‘mindless act of vandalism’ under cover of darkness in September 2023.
Following his arrest, Graham, 39, told police he thought he was being ‘fixed up’ and mentioned a ‘fake profile’ and a ‘p**ey down the road’ when asked with whom he was in dispute.
He told police there had been an altercation when his friend Carruthers was assaulted, and Facebook messages later appeared, accusing him and Carruthers of felling the Sycamore Gap tree.
He said: ‘It was all false f****** shite, someone stirring the pot.’
Asked if the dispute was ongoing, he replied: ‘Obviously it’s not finished because I’m f****** in here.’
He later claimed: ‘I have no reason on this planet to go and fell this f***** tree, alright.’
Graham was first arrested at his home at Millbeck Stables, Carlisle, on October 31, 2023.
His home was searched, and two chainsaws were seized from a work shed, as well as a mobile phone inside a jacket pocket hanging in the caravan.
The court heard Carruthers was first arrested on suspicion of criminal damage the same day at the caravan where he was living at The Old Fuel Depot at Kirkbride Airfield, Wigton, Cumbria.
In his first interview with police, Graham said he allowed other people to use his Range Rover.
His business had 11 vehicles, including wagons, tippers and dumpers, and others could drive them.
He said: ‘I couldn’t give a s***e who uses the Range Rover, it’s there to use, that’s all it’s there for.’
Graham later added: ‘Adam takes it whenever he needs it like. A good pal, Adam.’
The jury has been told the pair now appeared to blame each other and their once-close friendship has ‘unravelled’.
Asked by police if Carruthers had ever worked for him, Graham said: ‘He does tree work with us. All Adam does is tree work.’
Graham told police he was self-employed and he sometimes cut down trees as part of the business.
Asked if any of the chainsaws he owned could be linked to cutting down the sycamore, Graham told police: ‘They wouldn’t be big enough.’
On how he would cut down the tree at Sycamore Gap, he replied: ‘I have never done a large fell, I haven’t been trained for that.’
Graham told police in an interview he had been to Sycamore Gap ‘now and again over the years’ while travelling in his campervan.
He said the last time he had visited before the tree was cut down was ‘way before September (2023)’.
Graham was shown a video taken from his mobile phone that prosecutors say shows the Sycamore Gap tree being cut down.
Asked about the sound of a chainsaw on the footage, he said: ‘From the sound there I guarantee whatever saws you’ve got from mine – not one of them will sound like that.’
When told the coordinates where the video was filmed matched Sycamore Gap, Graham said: ‘That might be my phone but it doesn’t mean that I was stood behind it.’
He answered ‘no comment’ when asked if someone else had used his phone, or if he had seen the video before.
Graham gave the same reply when asked about two videos and a photo on his phone showing a chunk of a tree and a chainsaw in the boot of a vehicle.
He said: ‘I have no reason on this planet to go and fell this f***** tree, alright. I’m not going to speak any f****** more about it. I will sort this problem myself.’
Asked if the tree being felled was a shock, he replied: ‘Aye, it’s a shock but not a surprise.’
When the police asked him if he denied being responsible for the crime, he said: ‘1000%, I will tell you now, it was not me stood by the tree with the chainsaw.’
He added: ‘If I get the blame, I will deal with it.’
The trial continues.
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