Two men went on a “moronic mission” to fell the famous Sycamore Gap tree in an act of “mindless vandalism” which they filmed on a phone, a jury has been told.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, used a chainsaw to chop down the tree and “the technique that they used showed expertise and a determined, deliberate approach to the felling”, prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday.
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, said one of the men cut across the trunk, causing the sycamore to fall and hit Hadrian’s Wall, while the other defendant filmed what they were doing on a mobile phone.
Mr Wright said: “The prosecution say that two men are responsible for that mindless vandalism – the defendants, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers.”
The prosecutor said the pair had driven to the Sycamore Gap area of Northumberland in Graham’s Range Rover from the Carlisle area, where they lived, late on 27 September 2023.
Opening the prosecution case, Mr Wright told the jury: “Though the tree had grown for over 100 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.”
Mr Wright told the court photographs and two short videos were taken on Graham’s phone which showed a piece of wood next to a chainsaw in the boot of his Range Rover.
The prosecutor said: “A forensic botanist has confirmed that there is very strong evidence to support the hypothesis that the piece of wood in the video and images is the wedge that was taken from Sycamore Gap.
“This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.”
The missing wedge was never recovered.
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The jury also heard how the pair allegedly shared social media posts about the incident with each other as the media began reporting the news, with Graham allegedly saying to Carruthers: “Here we go.”
Graham and Carruthers were said to be “friends who were regularly in each other’s company” at the time of the felling.
Graham lived in Carlisle and had a groundwork company called D M Graham Groundworks.
Carruthers lived at a location on the Kirkbride Airfield in Cumbria and told police during an interview he worked in property maintenance and mechanics.
Ian Everard, who had worked for the Forestry Commission for more than 36 years, examined the tree and photographs, and confirmed that the marking of the tree and cutting a wedge is a recognised technique in felling.
Mr Wright said: “The prosecution say that use of this technique is relevant, in that it shows that the tree was felled by someone with some knowledge of how to fell a tree.
“It also shows that the people who felled the tree knew that the tree would fall onto the wall, or at least would have known that there was a risk that it would fall onto the wall.”
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Graham and Carruthers deny two counts each of criminal damage.
They are jointly charged with causing £622,191 of criminal damage to the much-photographed Northumberland tree.
They are also charged with causing £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The wall and the tree belong to the National Trust.
The trial continues.
