Two men who cut down Sycamore Gap tree jailed for four years

Two men who cut down the Sycamore Gap tree in an act of ‘drunken stupidity’ have been jailed for four years.

Former friends Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were convicted of criminal damage to the ‘totemic’ tree, which had stood for more than 100 years in a fold in the landscape.

They were also convicted of criminal damage to Hadrian’s Wall, caused when the sycamore fell on the ancient monument in September 2023.

Newcastle Crown Court heard today that while neither man accepted being present, both now admit their involvement.

Defending Carruthers, Andrew Gurney said his client had finally offered a motive for chopping down the tree and ‘wishes to cleanse his conscience of what he has done’.

He said: ‘People want to know “Why? Why did you conduct this mindless act?”

‘Unfortunately, it is no more than drunken stupidity.

‘He felled that tree and it is something he will regret for the rest of his life. There’s no better explanation than that.’

The court heard Carruthers told a probation worker he has no memory of chopping the tree down, saying he had ‘drunk a bottle of whisky after a hard day’ and ‘everything is a blur’.

For his part, Graham blamed his co-accused, branding him a ‘fantasist’ and insisting he ‘just went along with it’ and describing his ‘shock’ when the tree was actually cut down.

The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, told the pair she was sure ‘bravado’ and ‘thrill-seeking’ were more likely motivations.

She told the pair: ‘Felling the tree in the middle of the night in a storm gave you some sort of thrill.

‘You revelled in the coverage, taking pride in what you have done, knowing you were responsible for the crime so many people were talking about.

‘Whether that was the sole explanation for what you did, I do not know, however I know you are both equally culpable.’

The judge said the tree had become a ‘place of special personal significance where marriages were proposed and tributes to loved ones were left’.

She added: ‘It was a place of peace and tranquility to which people returned again and again.’

The judge said there had been ‘an extraordinary social impact’ to the offence and that it had caused ‘widespread distress’.

Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told jurors during their trial the pair had engaged in a ‘moronic mission’ to cut down the landmark, travelling for more than 40 minutes from their homes in Cumbria, then carrying their equipment across pitch black moorland during a storm back in September 2023.

One of them filmed the act, although precisely who did what, and why, has never been explained, with the prosecution case claiming that each encouraged the other.

They took a wedge from the tree as a trophy that has never been recovered and revelled in the media coverage, as news of the vandalism caused national and international headlines.

The tree was a symbol of Northumberland, was the site of countless family visits and featured in the Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Its destruction, filmed on a mobile phone, took less than three minutes.

Andrew Poad, a National Trust manager, gave a victim impact statement which was read out in court today.

He said: ‘This iconic tree can never be replaced.

‘Whilst the National Trust has cared for it on behalf of the nation, it belonged to the people.

‘It was totemic.’

Mr Poad added: ‘An overwhelming sense of loss and confusion was felt across the world.

‘The question was why anyone would do this to such a beautiful tree in such a special place.

‘It was beyond comprehension.’

The defendants were once close, working and socialising together, but have fallen out since their arrests and each has come to blame the other.

Graham’s Range Rover was picked up on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras between Carlisle and Sycamore Gap at night on September 27, 2023, and returning early the next morning. His mobile was traced to phone masts making the same journey.

When police arrested the pair and searched Graham’s phone, they found a two-minute and 41-second video, which showed the sycamore being cut down at 12.30am on September 28, and had been sent to Carruthers.

Messages and voice notes between Graham and Carruthers the next day showed them talking about the story going ‘wild’ and ‘viral’.

At trial, Graham claimed Carruthers had a fascination with the sycamore, saying he had described it as ‘the most famous tree in the world’ and spoken of wanting to cut it down, even keeping a piece of string in his workshop that he had used to measure its circumference.

Carruthers denied this and told the court he could not understand the outcry over the story, saying it was ‘just a tree’.

Chris Knox, defending Graham, told the court: ‘He is a troubled man who has had very real difficulties in his life, which have not all been of his own making.’

Mr Knox said Graham, a groundworker, had set up a ‘proper business which paid tax and did all the appropriate things’.

His home, and the business he operated from it, were attacked after he was remanded in custody, including having windows broken, the barrister said.

Graham had also received hate mail which showed ‘very unpleasant, malign intent towards him’, Mr Knox said.

For Carruthers, Andrew Gurney said: ‘Mr Carruthers is someone who is going to have to bear the burden of what he has done for the rest of his life.

‘He is a man of previous good character. That is gone. He will forever be linked to this act. He will have to carry this as some form of personal penance.’

Mr Gurney said Adam Carruthers played an active role in bringing up his children, aged six and two.

Being in prison since May had been ‘torture’ for him as he had never been away from his children for so long, Mr Gurney said.

‘It is his stupid actions that have caused him to be taken away from his family and his children.’

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