06-05-2025
Sycamore Gap ‘just a tree', claims man accused of its felling
Mr Carruthers was also asked about a voice note he sent to Mr Graham on Sept 28 2023 referring to 'an operation like we did last night'.
He said: 'I think it's been interpreted wrong, it should be 'launch an operation like what he did last night'. I'm referring to the person who done the job.
'It might sound as if I'm being sexist saying it's a man, but I wouldn't have thought it would have been a woman who done it.'
Carruthers said he 'had no idea' who was responsible for cutting down the tree and 'nothing was ever mentioned to me that [Mr Graham] had anything to do with it'.
Asked why his friendship with Mr Graham ended, Mr Carruthers said his co-accused came to see him at work one night and told him: 'I'm going to go my way and you're going to go yours – I believe you have been grassing on me.'
Mr Gurney asked if Mr Carruthers had 'grassed him up' and the defendant said he had not.
He denied ever using a piece of string to measure the tree at Sycamore Gap or asking his co-defendant to take the blame for felling it, as Graham claimed during his evidence.
Asked if he had a fixation on the tree, Mr Carruthers said: 'No, not at all.'
