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Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sycamore Gap pair are both jailed for a total of four years and three months over felling of iconic tree during 'moronic mission' that showed 'humanity at its worst'
Two former best friends who filmed themselves cutting down one of Britain's most famous trees with a chainsaw during a 'moronic mission' have been jailed for four years and three months. Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Carlisle, Cumbria, felled the 19th Century Sycamore Gap tree, which sat in a dip next to Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, in an act prosecutors described as 'mindless vandalism.' The labourers chopped down the iconic tree in a matter of minutes having driven 40 minutes from Carlisle under the cover of darkness on September 27 2023 in Graham's Range Rover, nicknamed the 'Black Pig'. They even kept a wedge of the trunk as a trophy and were said to be 'loving it' when news of the destruction made headlines around the world the following day. Their sentencing hearing at Newcastle Crown Court today heard that the pair have finally admitted their involvement in the felling, having denied being responsible for the duration of their trial which saw them convicted by a jury in May. Andrew Gurney, defending Carruthers, said the public 'wanted to know "why?"' 'Why did he conduct this mindless act? Unfortunately it is no more than drunken stupidity. That is why he felled that tree. Something he will regret for the rest of his life. 'There is no better explanation than that.' He added: 'He will be forever linked to this act and will have to carry this as some form of personal penance.' The sycamore was planted in the 1800s by wealthy lawyer and antiquarian John Clayton, who spent much of his life buying land around Hadrian's Wall to preserve it. Nestled in a dip in the Roman structure, it attracted visitors from around the globe and appeared in the 1991 blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner. It was a place for picnics, marriage proposals and its image was used on souvenirs ranging from postcards to fridge magnets and prints sold to tourists across Northumberland. When it was mysteriously felled under the cover of darkness, there was a global outpouring of anger and confusion, prompting a furious response from then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, tearful visits from mourners and international headline news coverage from India to the United States. But because of the duo's denials, their true motivation – other than hoping to attract a level of infamy – was never properly established. Christopher Knox, defending Graham, said that his client had also admitted his involvement in the felling to a probation officer - but denied going with the intent to cut down the tree. He has also denied being drunk during the 'mission' and claimed he 'didn't believe it would happen until it did.' Shortly after chopping the tree down, Carruthers, who had received a video of his young child from his partner on a mobile phone, replied: 'I've got a better video than that.' On Graham's phone was a two minute, 41 second video, showing the silhouette of a man standing beside a large tree before the 'unmistakeable sound' of a chainsaw could be heard. Following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court, Graham and Carruthers were convicted of causing criminal damage without lawful excuse to the tree and to Hadrian's Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site, caused when the tree fell across it. In a victim impact statement read to the court today, Andrew Poad, a general manager at the National Trust, said the felling was 'beyond comprehension.' 'This iconic tree can never be replaced,' he said. 'While the National Trust has cared for it on behalf of the nation, it belongs to the people. 'It was a totemic symbol, a destination for visits, a place to make memories, take photographs in all seasons, a place of sanctuary…' He added: 'When it became clear this was malicious and deliberate, the question was: why? 'There was an overwhelming sense of loss and confusion felt across the world.' The case offered a candid insight into the daily routine of the odd couple – who had worked together on a number of occasions felling trees. The court heard that Graham, who affectionately nicknamed his friend 'Jeffrey', would regularly drop by Carruthers' home carrying a milkshake for his friend, and Carruthers would turn up at Graham's caravan with pizza. They were in daily telephone contact, having met in 2021 when Carruthers, a mechanic, was hired to fix a Land Rover belonging to Graham's father, Michael. While Carruthers was still working on the car, Michael took his own life. Relatives said Graham was 'deeply affected' by the death, his father having been the only family member with whom he maintained a close relationship. He asked Carruthers to make sure the car was ready for the funeral, and the mechanic worked round the clock to make it happen. 'We became good friends and saw each other two or three times a week, maybe four, and we were on the phone every day,' Carruthers told the trial. However Graham reacted angrily to questions during his police interview about the nature of their relationship when asked if Carruthers would ever stay over at his home. 'Are you trying to say we are p**fters or something?' he said. 'No he doesn't stay over, definitely not.' However the pressure of the arrests destroyed their friendship, with Graham later turning on Carruthers in an anonymous phone call to police pinning the blame on his friend. Officers instantly recognised Graham's voice as he breathlessly 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. During his evidence at trial, Graham claimed Carruthers showed him a piece of string with 'sentimental value' in 2021 – two years before the tree was felled – which was the precise measurement of the circumference of the tree. 'He had measured the circumference with the string,' Graham told the jury. 'He told me it was the most famous tree in the world.' He later said Carruthers had a 'strange interest in a lot of things.' Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the sentencing hearing that it was 'an expedition that required significant planning.' 'In terms of taking a vehicle, driving 40 minutes to a car park, taking the appropriate specialist equipment, carrying the equipment from the car park to the tree, a 20-minute walk in each direction... and felling the tree in a deliberate and professional way,' he said. He disputed that the pair were drunk during their mission, adding: 'The court can be sure they were sober, prepared and planned to do what they did.' Earlier, opening the case to the jury at trial, he 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. 'Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover and travelled back towards Carlisle.' The following morning, as news broke of the vandalism, the pair shared news and social media posts about the tree with Graham saying to Carruthers 'here we go,' the court heard. Mr Wright said this was the pair 'gathering the news of their infamy as the men who took down the tree'. 'This is more than mere discussion,' he added. 'This is excitement that it has gone worldwide, its gone viral. 'There is no sadness here or remorse.' When 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. In a voice note played to the court, Graham replied: 'That Kevin Hartness comment. Weak… f****g weak? Does he realise how heavy sh*t is?' Carruthers later sent a voice note which 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.' Graham, who had his own groundworks company, lived on a small-holding in Grinsdale Bridge, near Carlisle while Carruthers, who was said to work in 'property maintenance', lived in a caravan on an airfield with his partner and two young children. The net closed in on the pair when Graham's Range Rover was captured on automated numberplate cameras travelling to and from the Sycamore Gap beauty spot on the night of the incident. Earlier this month, it was announced that a piece of the Sycamore Gap tree is set to go on permanent display at Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, two miles away from where the tree stood. The installation, created by artist Charlie Whinney, includes a piece of the tree that is more , than 6ft (2m) long, surrounded by steam-bent wood that twists around the original trunk, and three benches.
The Independent
12 hours ago
- The Independent
The ‘bully' and the ‘silly man with silly ideas': How Sycamore Gap fellers brought shame on tight-knit communities
Dotted along the edge of Hadrian's Wall, the pretty archetypal English villages of Kirkandrews and Grinsdale are the final stops for walkers and cyclists before the urban sprawl of Carlisle. There's no pub, or a shop. There are two village halls. One, now closed, was once a popular dance hall and used by the local young farmers' club. The other, a single-storey brick building, holds regular coffee mornings and afternoon teas. There used to be a railway with a station, but the unprofitable line shut in the 1960s. And the villages, with a combined population of around 600 people, would have gone largely unnoticed had it not been for one of their residents cutting down the iconic Sycamore Gap tree on the night of 28 September, 2023. Dan Graham was a well-known bully, according to neighbours, who would often spot him riding a horse trap or driving around in his groundworks company lorry. The local parish council even publicly claimed residents were threatened by his 'dominant and oppressive behaviour' in a lengthy planning dispute over his claim for the permanent siting of a caravan in the village. But they could still not believe what the 39-year-old would do. Alongside his former best friend Adam Carruthers, Graham travelled during a storm to the dip in Hadrian's Wall where the Sycamore Gap tree once stood, and chopped it down with a chainsaw. No one knows for sure which one of the pair did it, or who filmed it on a mobile phone. But it doesn't matter - both vandals have disgraced the communities in which they lived. 'It's embarrassing,' one neighbour told The Independent. 'That someone from your neighbourhood could have done something so heinous, it's shameful and upsetting for everyone living here. He was a bully, a difficult person, but to do this? Never.' Graham was no stranger to local police, say locals, who often spotted marked cars outside the entrance gates. It has emerged he had convictions for violence and battery between 2007 and 2016 and for Public Order Act offences between 2021 and 2022. He also had a caution for stealing logs, which he had chopped up with a chainsaw. It was his criminal activity and Graham's tree surgery work that perhaps fuelled the immediate rumours that swirled around the village in the wake of the felling, indicating he was responsible It wasn't until Northumbria Police received a 'strand of intelligence' two weeks later that officers carried out the dawn arrest of Graham at his home. 'Within a couple of days, people were saying it was him,' the neighbour said. 'It was a case of waiting for him to be caught, and when he was convicted at the trial, there was a sense of relief, but also embarrassment over his link to the area.' They added: 'But no one knows why he did it, do they? We heard it was a bet. Either he lost a bet or someone made a bet with him to chop the tree down. The problem is no one will ever really know, will they?' At their sentencing hearing, it emerged that Graham and Carruthers had both now accepted responsibility, but it's still not known why they did it. The suggestion of a bet only adds to the list of unproven theories put forward, which also includes Carruthers wanting a trophy wedge from the tree as a present for his newborn child. During the two-week-long trial, Graham had described himself as a 'man with no friends'. He said he lived a quiet life, only seeing his co-accused Carruthers and his on-off girlfriend outside of work. A falling-out with his family at the funeral of his father brought him closer to Carruthers, who helped fix his father's Land Rover Defender for the ceremony. Down a track less than half a mile from Graham's home, a woman living with her parents and children in a caravan said: 'He was the type who kept himself to himself in that yard, we really didn't see much of him.' More recently, she said her family had a 'gripe' with Graham after he told environmental officials they had polluted the river that passed his compound. 'He'd been digging across the field and pointed the finger at us,' she said. 'Like everyone round here, we're really shocked,' she added. Also nearby, a neighbour remembers when detectives first arrived to arrest Graham and search his compound. They discovered chainsaws, but never found the machine that cut down to the Sycamore Gap, or the wedge of tree that was pictured in his car boot when he returned from the crime. 'He was a ruffian, so it wasn't a complete surprise when [we] heard about the evidence,' they said. 'No one really knew him, though. You'd see him driving the van, and you'd hear about the developments on the yard he shouldn't be doing. But no one really went to speak to him. Why would they?' Graham told the jury that he and Carruthers had 'bumped into each other', before forming the close relationship. But by the summer of 2024, their friendship was teetering under the pressure of evidence put to them by police. Then, in August, Graham dropped a bombshell when he made a 10-minute 101 call to police, pinning the blame on his friend. 'One of the lads, Adam Carruthers, has got the saw back in his possession,' he said. Turning the screw even further, in December, Graham posted a picture of Carruthers on Facebook. But Carruthers, despite the finger-pointing from his co-accused, never directly blamed Graham, even when giving evidence in court. For Carruthers, unlike Graham, neighbours of his parents in the town of Wigton, a 45-minute drive from Graham's home, said they were shocked to find out the 32-year-old's involvement. One neighbour said he was a 'silly man with silly ideas', but admitted his surprise when the case got to court. The neighbour said: 'He liked his cars, he was a mechanic. He was doing alright at one point. He had a job at the factory [Innovia Films], but then was caught doing up cars on a day he should have been in. He was an ordinary lad, really.' In a pub in Wigton, a drinker said he knew Carruthers because he did the MOT on his vehicle twice. 'He's not the bad guy in this,' he said. 'He got pushed into this by the other one, Adam was alright.' Carruthers was living with his partner in a ramshackle yard at an old fuel depot next to RAF Kirkbride airfield at the time of the Sycamore Gap felling. Rusting cars and machinery sit around the gated compound, where dogs guard the entrance. His partner Amy Connor had given birth less than two weeks before the tree came down. It was the prosecution's case at the trial that Carruthers had kept the wedge from cutting down the tree as a present for the newborn. Graham, when giving evidence, claimed Carruthers had a 'fascination' with the tree. He alleged Carruthers even had a length of string in his workshop, which he used to measure the tree's circumference and kept for sentimental reasons. Neither the used chainsaw, wedge of tree or length of string was ever found. Like the questions of motive behind the criminal damage, information on the whereabouts of the items looks to remain locked up with the pair who were sentenced to four years and three months in prison, as many continue to mourn the loss of the Sycamore Gap tree.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Harris makes 45-minute outing for free agent XI amid Blues contract wait
Kadeem Harris played 45 minutes for the Professional Footballers' Association's free agent XI today as Carlisle United continue to wait for a contract decision from the midfielder. Harris was in the PFA's first-half line-up for a pre-season game against Port Vale. Advertisement The 32-year-old played the opening 45 minutes as the players' union side lost 3-2 to the Valiants. Harris is spending a second week at the PFA's pre-season training camp as he weighs up his future. Carlisle made the midfielder a contract offer at the end of last season but Harris has been in no hurry to make a decision on his destination for the 2025/26 season. His outing against Port Vale was his first game since the end of last term with the Blues. The PFA game saw other ex-Blues players get some pre-season action, with released captain Sam Lavelle playing in both halves, in his second summer outing for the free agent side. Advertisement Former United striker Olufela Olomola, recently released by Bromley, scored the PFA team's first goal, as the unattached players fought back from a 2-0 half-time deficit to level the game after the break. Former Coventry City forward Jordy Hiwula got their second, after first half Vale goals by Ben Waine and Jack Shorrock. Rico Richards then struck Port Vale's late winner past former United and Barrow keeper Paul Farman. 'We didn't have that' - Hughes on how new signings will boost Blues Other former United men at the PFA camp this week include Paul Dummett and Ben Williams, but they were not involved in the Port Vale game, which was played at the PFA's training base at Champneys Springs in Leicestershire. Advertisement Other free agents to feature in the game included Ched Evans, Patrick Bauer, Tim Dieng, Hakeeb Adelakun, Jake Forster-Caskey, Jamal Blackman and Tom Davies. Another released Carlisle player, Dylan McGeouch, has also been on the PFA camp recently but he is not on the 40-man list taking part in training this week. FLASH SALE: Get unlimited access to every Carlisle United article by subscribing to the News & Star for £6 for 6 months or a full year at half price - click HERE for details
BBC News
21 hours ago
- BBC News
Sycamore Gap: Who are the tree fellers and why did they do it?
Who are Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham, the men due to be sentenced later for cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland? And, given they have never admitted causing the destruction that shocked the world, what might have possessed them to do it? Many people who knew the pair spoke to the BBC, but most requested them were neighbours in the quiet street in Carlisle where 39-year-old Daniel Graham grew up. They remember him as an "average kid" before his parents' separation - describing that as an event which "sent him off the rails."His dad Michael took his own life in 2021, something Graham spoke about while giving evidence in court in relation to his struggles with poor mental health. He was estranged from many members of his family, with one saying he would "fly off the handle at anything". For the last decade Graham lived and worked on a patch of land on the outskirts of Kirkandrews-upon-Eden, just outside called it Millbeck Stables and ran his company, DM Graham Groundworks, from the site on a secluded lane, nestled among large country homes. Journalist Kevin Donald described the plot as "a strange little shanty"."It's got a caravan, horses on the land and pillars at the entrance with lions on the top," he said. 'An odd-bod' Graham erected a series of buildings, a stable block, horse shelter and storage unit, gaining planning permission for some of them. He lived on site in a static caravan, largely hidden behind big metal gates which included his Bowron, chairman of the village's Parish Hall Committee, said Graham was "a man of mystery, a bit of an odd-bod"."There were these black gates and then a tall fence all round the site with black plastic sheeting so you couldn't see in, but there were lights on all night."His lorry is still there. You can see in now because all the plastic has come down." A planning application for Graham to be allowed to live on the site was rejected in April 2023, five months before the Sycamore Gap tree was cut had not been paying council tax and among the comments on the application was a claim he had displayed "dominant and oppressive" behaviour. "When news came out he'd been arrested, we weren't surprised," Mr Bowron said."Everyone was saying 'oh yes that strange bloke'."In court, the jury heard that tree felling was part of Graham's business and he owned three or four chainsaws. Adam Carruthers helped him with that work, and the court was told the pair were close friends. Carruthers grew up in Wigton, a market town in Cumbria with a history stretching back to medieval times. His parents still live there and town councillor Chris Scott described it as a place where families put down roots and stay for generations. Scott did not know Carruthers personally, but runs a social media site for the town and remembers a "curious silence" when he was arrested. "People weren't discussing it all, which surprised me because it was such a big story at the time." A childhood friend of Carruthers said he was "a bit of an outcast" but also the last person he would expect to have been involved in the felling of the arrest was "the talk" of their school friendship group."Growing up we were the good kids," the friend said. "We couldn't get our heads around it. You would never ever think he would do something like that."Carruthers went to Nelson Thomlinson School where another fellow pupil described him as a "bit of a loner"."He always kept to himself and in classes he wouldn't talk. Teachers would try and get him to talk, and fail."At the time of his arrest in October 2023, Carruthers had recently become a father for the second time and was living in a caravan with his partner at Kirkbride Airfield. Graham and Carruthers met in 2021 when the latter, who was a mechanic, repaired a Land Rover belonging to Graham's father so it could be used for his funeral. Graham called Carruthers his "best pal" and paid him to help him on jobs, splitting the cash their friendship splintered as the trial unfolded, with Graham blaming Carruthers who, in turn, said he had no idea who did it. In the absence of any declared motive, could interactions between the pair hold clues to what drove them to take a chainsaw to one of the most beloved trees in the UK?After the felling, they exchanged messages talking about the scale of the reporting of the story. In one voicenote, Daniel Graham exclaimed: "It's gone viral, it is worldwide."Newcastle University's Bethany Usher, who specialises in crime journalism, is among those who believe the pair were craving attention. "Social media has completely changed the way we view ourselves, taking video of ourselves doing things is so part of our lived experience," she said. "What became clear from the trial is that they enjoyed the attention they got worldwide."It's like they were saying 'I'm someone, I have got the attention of people', and they forgot that what they were doing was providing evidence for the police."The truth is they knew the tree was special, but they were trying to show they counted more." 'Pleasure in grief' Dr Philip Stone from the University of Lancashire, who studies dark tourism where visitors travel to sites of death, brutality and terror, said the pair may have "enjoyed watching the distress they had caused from such spiteful, wanton ecological vandalism"."To use the German psychology phrase schadenfreude, some people take a pleasure in other's people's misfortune and getting a sense of perverted pleasure from the response from that. "It is as though they are thinking 'Yeh, I'm going to get my 15 minutes of fame, but I'm also going to get pleasure in seeing other people's grief'." Among those hurt by the loss of something both very public and personal was Hayley got engaged at the Sycamore Gap tree and, after her wedding, she and her husband Lee posed for their photographs there."Strong, resilient always there, the tree symbolised what we wanted our marriage to be," she said. The couple had hoped there had been more to the felling than Carruthers and Daniel having "a bit of a laugh" and it "stung" to find out that seemed to be their only motive."They sent messages to each other about someone not having the 'minerals' to do what they did," she said."I'd like to say to them, 'you guys haven't got the minerals to own up to what you did and I hope that sticks with you in prison'." Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
Sycamore Gap tree axe thug will be jailed AND kicked out of his home while in prison
THE Sycamore Gap pair will be sentenced tomorrow — and one of them will also be kicked out of his home while behind bars. Daniel Graham, 39, has been evicted from his ramshackle property after a battle with planners. 4 4 4 Neighbours accused him of destroying the countryside when he turned a field into an 'illegal builder's yard' and put a static caravan in it. When his bid to be allowed to stay there failed, locals said he was so angry it provided the motive to chop down the tree in September 2023. He and Adam Carruthers, 32, face years in jail at Newcastle crown court after being convicted of causing over £600,000 damage to the tree and Hadrian's Wall. Trial judge Mrs Justice Lambert warned them after the verdict in May that they face "a lengthy period in custody". And in just three months Graham, 39, will be left without a home to go to when he is finally released. His last plea to the planning inspectorate to be allowed to live in his caravan near Carlisle, Cumbria, was rejected in April. He was given six months to find other accommodation but by then he was already on remand ahead of his trial and will also be inside when the time runs out. A Cumberland Council spokesperson said: 'A decision was taken to uphold the council's enforcement notice. "We are now bound by the conditions from the Planning Inspectorate. Graham and Carruthers used a chainsaw to fell the tree in September 2023 in an act of 'mindless vandalism', their trial heard. Felled Sycamore Gap tree removed from Hadrian's Wall The men have since fallen out and blamed each other but the jury convicted them both. 4
