Two groundworkers filmed themselves cutting down one of Britain’s most famous trees with a chainsaw before boasting about their ‘moronic mission’, a court heard today.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Carlisle, Cumbria, are on trial accused of felling the historic Sycamore Gap tree, which sat in a dip next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, in an act of ‘mindless vandalism’.
The friends allegedly felled the tree ‘in a matter of minutes’ having driven 40 minutes from Carlisle to the tree in the late hours of September 27 2023 in Graham’s Range Rover.
After chopping down the Sycamore Gap tree – which had stood for at least a century – Carruthers, who had received a video of his young child from his partner, allegedly told her: ‘I’ve got a better video than that.’
Minutes later, Graham sent a video said to show the pair felling the tree to Carruthers’ phone, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Graham and Carruthers are on trial accused of causing criminal damage without lawful excuse to the tree – to the value of £622,191 – and to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site, to the value of £1,144, caused when the tree fell across it.
On the first day of their trial, prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the jury that the pair showed ‘expertise and a determined, deliberate approach to the felling.’
‘First, they marked the intended cut with silver spray paint, before then cutting out a wedge that would dictate the direction in which the tree would fall,’ he said.
Carruthers (left) arriving at court yesterday. Graham and Carruthers had covered their faces at earlier court appearances
The Sycamore Gap tree on the morning after it was felled in September 2023, which also caused damage to the Roman Hadrian’s Wall
The sycamore had stood for at least 100 years before it was felled in 2023 in an act which stunned the nation
‘One of the men then cut across the trunk, causing the sycamore to fall, hitting the wall.
‘Whilst he did that, the other filmed the act on Graham’s mobile telephone.
‘Though the tree had grown for over a hundred years, the act of irreparably damaging it was the work of a matter of minutes.
‘Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover, and travelled back towards Carlisle.’
The pair are also accused of taking a wedge of wood from the tree after it was felled as a ‘trophy’ to ‘remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.’
Daniel Graham is on trial accused of felling the historic tree
Adam Carruthers, from Wigton, Carlisle, is said to have felled the tree and then sent a video of the act to his partner
The following morning, when news broke of the vandalism, the pair shared social media posts about the tree with Graham saying to Carruthers ‘here we go,’ the court heard.
‘The discussions between the pair are a clear indication that they were responsible,’ Mr Wright said.
When a man named Kevin Hartness posted about the tree on Facebook, writing: ‘Some weak people that walk this earth; disgusting behaviour’, Carruthers sent this post to Graham.
Graham allegedly replied: ‘That Kevin Hartness comment. Weak… f****g weak? Does he realise how heavy sh*t is?’
Carruthers later sent a voice note which said: ‘I’d like to see Kevin Hartness launch an operation like we did last night… I don’t think he’s got the minerals.’
Graham, of Grinsdale, and Carruthers, of Wigton, both in Cumbria, deny criminal damage. The trial continues.
