Reason Sycamore Gap vandals cut down iconic tree revealed - as two men jailed for over four years
by Asher McShane · LBCBy Asher McShane
Two vandals who chopped down the landmark Sycamore Gap tree did it in a moment of ‘drunken stupidity,’ a court heard.
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Former friends Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were convicted of criminal damage to the much-loved tree, which had stood for more than 100 years in a fold in the Northumberland landscape.
The pair were both jailed for four years and three months at Newcastle Crown Court today.
Carruthers finally offered a motive for chopping down the tree at his sentencing.
His barrister told the court that the only motive given for cutting down the tree was ‘no more than drunken stupidity,’ according to pre-sentencing reports.
"He felled that tree and it is something he will regret for the rest of his life. There's no better explanation than that,” said Andrew Gurney, who is representing Carruthers.
Police make statement as pair who chopped down Sycamore Gap tree are sentenced
The judge said it was clear that Carruthers felled the tree while Graham filmed the act, but that both were equally culpable.
Mrs Justice Lambert said Carruthers had a ‘tough day’ and got drunk on whisky before cutting down the tree.
The tree was a symbol of the region and 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.
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".
The tree and wall were owned by the National Trust and a spokesperson said: "The needless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree shocked people around the country and overseas, demonstrating the powerful connection between people and our natural heritage."