EXCLUSIVE Lumberjack who was falsely accused of chopping down the Sycamore Gap tree 'considered taking his own life' after being arrested for felling the iconic landmark

Daily Mail​

09-05-2025

A lumberjack falsely accused of chopping down the Sycamore Gap tree has spoken of how his arrest drove him to the brink of suicide.
Walter Renwick, 70, was named on social media as being responsible for felling the famous landmark, in September 2023, and arrested by police the following day.
He was released without charge but yesterday, as Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were found guilty of cutting down the 50ft tree, Mr Renwick told the Mail how being wrongly accused almost 'broke' him.
The pensioner said he was shunned by friends and left so isolated in his community that he considered taking his own life.
'That sounds horrible to say but I really felt flat. I thought, this is not the way I planned my life,' he said.
'It was really horrible. Every time I went shopping in the village, people would say, 'He's the man who did Sycamore Gap'.
'Everyone turned against me. Everyone who knew me as a friend, they were having doubts. They were looking at things online and believing them.
'Everybody had me guilty.'
Pictured: the Sycamore Tree Gap which flourished in Northumberland alongside Hadrian's Wall. It became a location for marriage proposals, a place of pilgrimage, a site for ashes to be scattered, and even a scene in the Kevin Costner film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Shortly before the tree was felled, Mr Renwick was evicted from his farmhouse and campsite following complaints about anti-social behaviour.
He said the finger of suspicion was wrongly pointed at him because of the dispute, and because he has worked as a lumberjack since he left school, aged 17.
Mr Renwick, of Allendale, Cumbria, added: 'There isn't any phone signal at the farmhouse so I hadn't seen the news.
'My brother came down and told me about the Sycamore Gap tree. He said my name was being bandied about. I said, 'Of course I haven't done the tree'.
'Then it started going silly.'
Mr Renwick was arrested on September 29, the day after the tree was cut down, and released the same day. But he remained under investigation until the police confirmed they had dropped the case against him altogether on December 13.
He said he had never met Graham or Carruthers but he thought they were 'bad people'.