The police chief who investigated the felling of the Sycamore Gap today said he knew he’d solved the crime when he saw it’s ‘fantastically famous outline’ filmed on one of the perpetrator’s mobile phones.
Detective Inspector Calum Meikle revealed officers were ‘tipped off’ about Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers’ involvement a few weeks after the world famous tree was chopped down, in September 2023.
The ‘intelligence’ stated the pair of ground workers were responsible and had kept part of the tree as a trophy. It led officers to arrest both men and seize their phones.
Initially, Mr Meikle said, a two minute and 41 second video retrieved from Graham’s device was ‘all black.’
But they sent it to be digitally enhanced and when it came back the film was ‘shocking.’ There were gasps in the courtroom at Newcastle Crown Court when the now iconic grainy black and white video, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a revving chainsaw and cracking wood, was shown for the first time.
‘I’m always impressed with what our digital forensic units are able to achieve,’ Mr Meikle told the Mail. ‘But, as you have seen from the video, as the person filming moves back, it shows us that fantastically famous outline (which) was undoubtedly the Sycamore Gap tree.
‘I was very pleased to have that evidence.’
Photographs of a wedge of the tree trunk and a chainsaw in the boot of Graham’s Range Rover were also recovered from his phone.
Today Graham, 39, and Carruthers, 32, were jailed for four years and three months for felling the tree during a ‘moronic mission’ and damaging Hadrian’s Wall in the process.
Daniel Graham, left, and Adam Carruthers, right, face up to ten years in prison for felling the Sycamore Gap tree
The Sycamore Gap tree fell onto Hadrian’s Wall when it was cut down. The tree was made famous by actor Kevin Costner when it appeared in his 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.
Detective Inspector Calum Meikle, of Northumbria police, who led the investigation
The 150-year-old sycamore was felled in 2023 in an act which stunned the nation
Grabs from an enhanced version of mobile phone footage showing the Sycamore Gap being felled in September 2023, which was shown at Newcastle Crown Court
A court sketch of Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers appearing in the dock at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court
The Sycamore Gap tree is pictured here in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner
The court heard the pair, both from Cumbria, had only recently admitted, in interviews with the Probation Service, that they were responsible.
They now accepted they had driven 30 miles through a storm to chop down the iconic landmark, in the early hours of September 28, 2023.
Mrs Justice Christina Lambert said: ‘I can now be sure you, Adam Carruthers, were the person who felled the tree and you, Daniel Graham, assisted and encouraged him by driving there and back and not least by filming it on your phone.’
Carruthers then forwarded the video to his partner as they fled the scene. They also took the pictures of the wedge, which has never been found.
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,’ as they ‘revelled’ in news reports about the crime.
Although prosecutors said the friends had chopped the famous tree down for ‘a bit of a laugh,’ and suggested Carruthers was so obsessed with the Sycamore Gap that he wanted the wedge as a special souvenir for his newborn daughter, neither has offered any proper explanation for why they did what they did.
Today Carruthers claimed he had drunk a bottle of whisky and could barely remember felling the tree.
But the judge said this was implausible because the act took skill and coordination.
‘This was not the work of someone whose actions were significantly impaired through drink,’ she said.
Graham, in contrast, continued to blame his accomplice, insisting cutting the tree down had been Carruthers’ ‘dream’ and ‘his show’ which he simply went along with. He also claimed he was ‘shocked’ when Carruthers went through with the plan.
But Mrs Justice Lambert said the fact Graham filmed the felling and took photographs did not square with the behaviour of someone who was ‘horrified and shocked’ or was simply going along with Carruthers’ plan.
Instead the judge said both men were ‘equally culpable.’ They did it for ‘sheer bravado’ and also got ‘some sort of thrill’ out of the media coverage afterwards, she added.
Mr Meikle said he understood why people were ‘frustrated’ by the lack of an explanation but said only Graham and Carruthers would be able to solve the mystery of their ‘mindless thuggery.’
‘As soon as anybody knows that I’m involved in this investigation, that’s the first question they ask, they want to know why?’ he added.
‘That’s something that we still don’t fully understand. There are only two people that really will ever know.
‘I certainly don’t think that they fully understood the enormity of their actions.
‘The local community are increasingly frustrated by the fact that they don’t know why this has taken place, quite understandably. I am just happy to have delivered the two people that I know are responsible.’
Mr Meikle said that the case could prompt Britain to re-examine the way trees are valued.
‘I think this whole incident will raise further legislation because trees aren’t afforded the same protection that an ancient monument gets,’ he said. ‘So whilst Hadrian’s Wall is an ancient monument, the tree itself wasn’t.’
Graham and Carruthers were found guilty of causing £622,191 of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco world heritage site owned by the National Trust.
But Mr Meikle, who was asked to lead the inquiry for Northumbria Police because his father worked as a forester and he grew up with an understanding of the profession, insisted that what happened had far reaching consequences and, in many ways, was ‘not just a (routine) criminal damage.’
‘The tree means so much to so many people,’ Mr Meikle added.
‘That’s why it will never be looked at as just a criminal damage or just a tree.
‘It has been a very unique and very privileged role that I’ve held.’
The sycamore had stood for more than 100 years and achieved worldwide fame when it was featured in the 1991 Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman film, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.
Groundworker Daniel Graham (left), 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers (right), 32, had denied two counts of criminal damage in relation to the tree and Hadrian’s Wall
An image found on Daniel Graham’s phone of a chainsaw and wedge from the tree in the boot of his car
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, pictured working together. The relationship between the pair has evidently broken down since
The Sycamore Gap featured in the 1991 blockbuster Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (pictured) starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman
The trial heard that the police investigation into the damage initially included people who had issues with the National Trust, and even a young boy who reported his brother.
Opening the case to jurors, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: ‘Though the tree had grown for over a hundred years, the act of irreparably damaging it was the work of a matter of minutes.’
Graham and Carruthers were ‘best of pals’ at the time and regularly worked together felling trees.
Graham’s black 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 phone was traced to cell sites making the same journey.
When police arrested the pair and searched Graham’s phone, they found the video which showed the sycamore being cut down at 12.30am on September 28, that had also been sent to Carruthers.
They also found photos and videos of the wedge and chainsaw in the boot of Graham’s 4×4, although these have never been found.
Messages and voice notes between Graham and Carruthers the next day showed them talking about the story going ‘wild’ and ‘viral’, referring to ‘an operation like we did last night’ and joking that damage looked like it had been done by a professional.
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, and later sent a voice note in which he 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.’
In August last year, Graham made an anonymous phone call to the police in an attempt to implicate his friend and save himself.
Officers instantly recognised his voice as he told them that ‘one of the lads that [did] it, Adam Carruthers,’ had taken his chainsaws back home.
The ‘anonymous caller’ said if police searched Carruthers’ home and workshop they would find the saws and part of the felled tree, along with a shotgun and a pistol.
No firearms, chainsaws or the tree wedge were found, however.
On December 1, 2024, days before the trial was originally scheduled to begin, Graham took to Facebook to accuse Carruthers of felling the tree, posting a series of images of his former friend.
‘I truly would not do it,’ he wrote.
‘It’s my picture everywhere. Well, here’s a picture of the man with [the] hidden face.’
In a tense exchange with Mr Wright during his cross examination, Graham tried to justify turning on his friend.
He said Carruthers and an associate had tried to intimidate him into taking the blame for cutting down the tree, insisting that the criminal justice system would be lenient towards him due to his mental health issues.
He added: ‘If someone is costing me money and affecting my business then I will f***ing grass.
‘No doubt about it he [Carruthers] is the one holding the chainsaw. Adam felled the tree, I don’t know 100 per cent who the other person was.
‘I was annoyed about my business suffering through his actions.’
To explain away number plate and phone site evidence against him, Graham insisted that Carruthers and an accomplice had taken his car, with his phone inside, and driven to the Sycamore Gap without his knowledge while he had been sleeping in his caravan.
A photograph that was shown to the jury during the trial, showing a collection of chainsaws
Costner, who plays the protagonist, and Freeman, who plays warrior Azeem, visit the tree in the movie
Police vehicles near the location of the tree next to Hadrian’s Wall the day after it was cut down
Graham, pictured, tried to justify turning on his friend
Graham and Carruthers, seen here in a court sketch, were arrested in connection with the felling of the tree in October 2023
Graham (pictured) insisted that Carruthers and an accomplice had taken his car, with his phone inside, and driven to the Sycamore Gap without his knowledge while he had been sleeping in his caravan
Adam Carruthers now faces up to ten years in prison
Adam Carruthers outside Newcastle Crown Court yesterday
Part of the tree had been marked with white paint, indicating the culprits felled it with a chainsaw
Carruthers, for his part, did not directly accuse Graham of being involved in felling the tree.
But he insisted that on the evening the tree was felled he had tried to take his partner and young children for a meal at the Metrocentre in Gateshead but turned back because their 11-day-old baby was unsettled.
Jurors rejected these flimsy alibis and found the pair unanimously guilty.
The iconic tree that captured the world’s imagination: Sycamore Gap became a backdrop to Hollywood blockbuster and site of helicopter crash that nearly killed a national treasure
In 2003, the tree escaped damage when a helicopter that was filming documentary series British Isles – A Natural History crashed less than 100 feet away
Known to some as the Robin Hood Tree after its appearance in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film, Sycamore Gap was one of the most photographed trees in the country.
It stood next to Hadrian’s Wall near Crag Lough in Northumberland and is believed to have been planted in the early 18th century.
It is said to have once stood alongside others but eventually became the only one left – making it especially photogenic.
In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the hero – played by Costner – is seen pulling leaves from the tree as he walks under it with the warrior Azeem, who is played by Morgan Freeman.
The tree also featured in the music video for American star Bryan Adams’ hit (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, which was the soundtrack for Costner’s Robin Hood film.
In 2003, the tree escaped damage when a helicopter that was filming documentary series British Isles – A Natural History crashed less than 100 feet away.
The four onboard the aircraft were injured, but presenter Alan Titchmarsh, who was standing on the ground, narrowly escaped harm.
Titchmarsh said at the time: ‘I was pretty shaken and I was worried the copter was going to explode. The crew scrambled out and ran like hell.’
An eyewitness added: ‘Alan Titchmarsh was very lucky not to be hit.
‘He was almost underneath the helicopter when it fell but jumped out of the way as it came down.
‘The aircraft landed on its side and everyone, including Alan, ran to help. Everyone was amazed the crew were not seriously hurt.’
