Two found guilty of ‘deliberate and mindless’ chopping down iconic U.K. tree

Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, shining over the Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, July 3, 2016. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File)

An English court found two men guilty on Friday of the “deliberate and mindless” felling of one of the U.K.’s most iconic trees, an incident that sparked national outrage.

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court found former friends Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, guilty of criminal damage for the 2023 felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap.

It had stood for nearly 200 years next to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern England. The tree was so striking it featured in the 1991 Hollywood film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

They were convicted after around five hours of deliberation on two counts of criminal damage: to the sycamore and to the Roman wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it.

Reacting to the verdict, the National Trust conservation body said the “needless felling” of the tree had “shocked people around the country and overseas, demonstrating the powerful connection between people and our natural heritage.

“It was felt particularly deeply here in the north east of England where the tree was an emblem of the region and the backdrop to many personal memories,” said a spokesperson.

‘Moronic mission’

Prosecutors had told the court that the two men used a chainsaw to cut down the tree. It was, they said, “an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage”, which they filmed on Graham’s phone and shared with others.

Speaking after the conviction, Northumbria Police’s Kevin Waring said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism, but that term has never been more relevant than today.

“At no point have the two men given an explanation for why they targeted the tree -- and there never could be a justifiable one,” he added.

Graham has “been in custody for his own protection after an episode in December,” his lawyer Chris Knox told court on Friday.

The pair drove to the site near Hexham in Graham’s Range Rover and felled the tree on the night of September 27, 2023, slicing through the trunk in “a matter of minutes”, said prosecutor Richard Wright.

“Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover and travelled back towards Carlisle” where they lived, he added.

‘Mindless act of destruction’

A video of the act recovered from Graham’s phone was shared by the two men with “the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw, and a tree falling”, said Wright.

The next day, in a voice message from Graham to Carruthers, Graham said “it’s gone viral. It is worldwide. It will be on ITV news tonight,” he added.

“They are loving it, they’re revelling in it. This is the reaction of the people that did it. They still think it’s funny, or clever, or big,” said the prosecutor.

Gale Gilchrist, from the Crown Prosecution Service North, said that “in just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its (the tree’s) historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction.

“We hope our community can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted today,” she added.

The pair were jointly charged with causing £622,191 (US$832, 821) of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, an ancient Roman fortification stretching from northwest to northeast England.

The two men have been remanded in custody -- Carruthers for his own protection. They will be sentenced on July 15.

The sycamore was a symbol of northeast England and a key attraction photographed by millions of visitors over the years, winning the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year in 2016.

Efforts are under way to see if it can be regrown from its stump or seeds.

The National Trust, which owns the wall and the tree, said it has grown 49 saplings from the sycamore’s seeds, which will be planted this winter at sites across the UK.

By James Pheby