Two men behind 'senseless' felling of Sycamore Gap tree jailed for four years

Two men who carried out a “moronic mission” to fell one of the most loved and photographed trees in the UK have been jailed.

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were each given prison sentences of four years and three months for an act of criminal damage that caused the Sycamore Gap tree to crash down on to Hadrian’s wall in Northumberland on a stormy September night in 2023.

The attack, using a chainsaw in the middle of the night, was met with sadness, disbelief and anger that rippled around the world.

The sycamore was probably planted in the late 19th century and in recent decades the site was known as a beauty spot where people went to picnic, celebrate birthdays, propose marriage, spread ashes or just take photos.

The beloved Sycamore Gap tree before it was felled. Photograph: Rob Cowen/The Guardian

Graham, from Carlisle, and Carruthers, from Wigton, were found guilty in May of the criminal damage of the tree and the wall beside it, a Unesco world heritage site.

They had denied criminal damage even though there was evidence that Graham’s car had been used to drive to the beauty spot with a chainsaw in the boot.

During an eight-day trial at Newcastle crown court, the jury watched footage from Graham’s phone of the tree being felled and heard messages between the pair that the prosecution said showed them revelling in the infamy.

The prosecutor, Richard Wright KC, said during the trial that the crime was a “moronic mission” and the “arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery”, and that the two men showed a “basic lack of decency and courage to own up to what they did”.

He said: “Up and down the country and across the world, the reaction of all right-thinking people to the senseless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has been one of sadness and anger. Who would do such a thing? Why would anyone do such a thing? Take something beautiful and destroy it for no good reason.”

Wright said the “public indignation, anger and downright disgust” at the felling had been palpable. “Far from being the big men they thought they were, everyone else thought that they were rather pathetic.”

More details soon …