Two friends accused of cutting down famous UK tree filmed their 'moronic mission', court hears
TWO FRIENDS FILMED themselves in a 'moronic mission' to cut down the famous Sycamore Gap tree before keeping a wedge of the trunk as a 'trophy' and 'revelling' in their infamy when news broke the next day, prosecutors told a jury.
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers are accused of driving from Carlisle to the Northumberland beauty spot in the dead of night to chop down the tree with a chainsaw.
Prosecutors say one man cut across the trunk with 'expertise and a determined, deliberate approach' while the other recorded the felling on a mobile phone.
They then sent messages to each other the next day about the story going 'wild' and 'viral', with prosecutors saying they were 'excited' about what they had done.
Graham, 39, of Milbeck Stables, Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, 32, of Church Street, Wigton, Cumbria, are each charged with two counts each of criminal damage – one to the tree and one to the ancient Roman-built wall which is a Unesco World Heritage Site – on September 28 2023.
Opening the trial to jurors at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said the Sycamore Gap tree had stood for over a century in a dip next to Hadrian's Wall in the Northumberland National Park, becoming 'a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, feature films, and art'.
Mr Wright told jurors: 'By sunrise on Thursday September 28, the tree had been deliberately felled with a chainsaw in an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage.'
The court heard Graham and Carruthers are accused of travelling together, in Graham's Range Rover, from the Carlisle area where they lived towards Sycamore Gap before parking, walking for around 20 minutes to the tree and cutting it with a chainsaw.
Adam Carruthers outside Newcastle Crown Court where he is accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree.
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Mr Wright told the jury: '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.
'During that return journey Mr Carruthers received a video of his young child from his partner. He replied to her 'I've got a better video than that'.
'Minutes later the video of the felling of the tree was sent from Graham's phone to Carruthers' phone.
'At the time of that text conversation the only people in the world who knew that the tree had been felled were the men who had cut it down.'
Jurors heard that a photo and two videos were found on Graham's phone from 2am that day showing a piece of wood next to a chainsaw in the boot of his Range Rover.
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The court heard that at the time Graham and Carruthers were 'friends who were regularly in each other's company'. Graham lived in Carlisle and had a groundwork company called D M Graham Groundworks while Carruthers told police during an interview he worked in property maintenance and mechanics.
An investigation found the technique used to cut down the tree was a recognised technique in felling, and the position of a notch made in the trunk showed whoever did it knew the tree would fall on to the wall.
The trial heard data from cell sites and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras showed Graham's phone and vehicle were together, travelling towards Sycamore Gap on the night that it was felled, while CCTV footage from the Twice Brewed Inn captured vehicle headlights making a left turn towards the Steel Rigg car park, which is used by people visiting Sycamore Gap, at 11.55pm.
A video recovered from Graham's iPhone was shown to the jury, with Mr Wright telling them it was 'extremely dark' but that they would hear 'the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw, and a tree falling'.
The following morning, as the news broke, the defendants shared social media posts about it with each other, with Graham saying to Carruthers 'here we go'.
Mr Wright said Carruthers sent Graham a Facebook post from a man called Kevin Hartness saying: 'Some weak people that walk this earth disgusting behaviour.'
Two minutes later Graham replied to Carruthers with a voice note saying: 'That Kevin Hartness comment. Weak… f****** weak? Does he realise how heavy shit is?'
Carruthers replied with his own voice note saying: '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 one message, Graham said to Carruthers 'not a bad angle on that stump', adding: 'That's clearly a professional.'
Jurors were played a voice note from Carruthers to Graham saying: 'Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like news, news, news. I think it's gonna go wild.'
Another voice note from Graham to Carruthers at 11.17am said: 'Jeffrey (a name Carruthers uses) it's gone viral. It is worldwide. It will be on ITV news tonight.'
Mr Wright told jurors: '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.'
Mr Wright said in the following days 'message after message' about the Sycamore Gap story were shared between them or screenshot and saved by Graham, showing they were 'gathering news of their infamy'.
The court heard Graham and Carruthers' 'once close friendship appears to have unravelled', with each of them now apparently blaming the other.
Mr Wright said: 'As we understand the defences, Graham denies that he was involved in any way. His car and his phone must have been used without his knowledge to make the journey and record the felling.
'Carruthers on the other hand denies that he had anything at all to do with the felling of the tree and will maintain that he was not present when it was cut down.'
The trial continues.
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