Falsely accused Sycamore Gap suspect wore disguise after online trolling
Walter Renwick, a former lumberjack, was accused of cutting down the tree by online sleuths after the Sycamore Gap tree, which sat in a valley along Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland National Park for about 150 years, was chopped down.
Police arrested Mr Renwick on Sept 29 2023, the day after the felling, and photos showed officers searching his home in Northumberland and removing a chainsaw from the property.
Mr Renwick, who had recently been evicted from Plankey Mill Farm, near Bardon Mill, said: 'I'd just lost everything I had, my cows, my sheep, my parents' stuff. I'd lost my home and then this.'
He then became the subject of online trolling following his arrest and felt uncomfortable going out in public, resorting to wearing a disguise.
'It was heartbreaking. There were police everywhere, drones flying around the valley, divers in the lake, they were 100 per cent certain I'd done it,' he told the BBC.
'Every time I went shopping in Haltwhistle or Hexham, people were nudging each other and saying, 'That's him that cut the tree down', stuff like that. I know it was daft but I put a Rod Stewart wig on so people didn't spot me.'
Kevin Donald, a freelance journalist who was following the investigation into the tree felling, has said that Mr Renwick's arrest was 'a bit tenuous'.
Northumbria Police then announced the arrest of a 16-year-old boy in Haltwhistle, who has asked not to be named, who was also taken into custody.
Ed Corble, a bed and breakfast owner, said speculation in the boy's home town, five miles away from the Sycamore Gap, caused 'absolute chaos'.
He said: 'His family had no idea why it was happening and for a 16-year-old to have the eyes of the world on him like that was so dangerous.'
Mr Donald said the teenager received online abuse about the recent death of a relative.
'You've immediately got this trial by social media going on. It was all over the place that they'd arrested Walter and his grandson, but it turned out they didn't even know each other,' he said.
By December 2023, Northumbria Police let both Mr Renwick and the 16-year-old go. The force said it had carried out a 'meticulous and proportionate investigation' and acknowledged the 'strength of feeling' caused by the felling of the tree.
By then police had arrested Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria.
The pair were each convicted of two counts of criminal damage and were sentenced to 10 years in prison at Newcastle Crown Court in May 2025.
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