Sycamore Gap vandals to be sentenced over ‘moronic’ felling of historic tree they filmed themselves chopping down: Live updates

Former friends Daniel Graham (left), 39, and Adam Carruthers (right), 32, were convicted of criminal damage to the much-loved tree, which had stood for more than 100 years in a fold in the landscape.

They were also convicted of criminal damage to Hadrian’s Wall, caused when the sycamore fell on the ancient monument.

Mrs Justice Lambert will sentence the pair, who have been held in custody following their trial in May, at Newcastle Crown Court.

The maximum sentence for criminal damage is 10 years and aggravating factors include whether it was done to a heritage or cultural asset and evidence of wider impact on the community.

When she remanded the pair, Mrs Justice Lambert said they could face ‘a lengthy period in custody’.

When Daniel Graham (left) and Adam Carruthers (right) were arrested and charged, mystery surrounded the men responsible of cutting down the Sycamore Gap – described by one of them as ‘the world’s most famous tree’.

At the time the sycamore was felled, they were ‘best of pals’ who lived 12 miles apart in Cumbria, who saw each other up to four times a week and spoke on the phone every day.

But a court heard how the pair’s once close friendship had unravelled, with Graham blaming Carruthers for cutting down the famous tree and ruining his business.

Here’s a closer look at the two men being sentenced this morning:

Newcastle Crown Court heard Graham, 39, lived and worked at Milbeck Stables, Carlisle, where he had a groundwork company called D M Graham Groundworks which saw him cut down trees using three or four chainsaws he owned.

He said during his evidence that he had mental health issues and that his father had killed himself – a tragedy that led to his close friendship with Carruthers. The court heard Carruthers had been repairing Graham’s father’s Land Rover when he died, and Carruthers did Graham a “good turn” by getting it ready in time for the funeral.

At the time the tree was cut down in September 2023, the pair had been “best of pals” for about three years, according to Graham, and split the cash they made from felling trees 50/50.

But he told the trial he “turned on” Carruthers when his business started to suffer because of his name being linked to Sycamore Gap. The court heard a 10-minute anonymous phone call Graham made to police in August year when he named Carruthers as being responsible for cutting the tree down.

Carruthers, 32, said he was a mechanic, worked at a turf farm maintaining all their machinery and looked after some residential flats.

He said said he and Graham “just stumbled upon each other as friends” and denied Graham’s claim that he had a fascination with the Sycamore Gap tree, or kept a piece of string he had used to measure its circumference.

The court heard Carruthers had no previous convictions, reprimands, warnings or cautions and became a father for the second time only 12 days before the tree was felled.

The Sycamore Gap pictured today

Following the men’s conviction for chopping down the Sycamore Gap, police said neither of them had explained why the tree was targeted.

The court heard Daniel Graham claimed Adam Carruthers had a fascination with the historic sycamore but he denied the claim.

Speaking after the trial concluded, Superintendent Kevin Waring, of Northumbria Police said:

We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals. At no point have the two men given an explanation for why they targeted the tree – and there never could be a justifiable one.

During the men’s trial, Newcastle Crown Court heard the Sycamore Gap tree was a ‘totemic’ feature of Northumberland.

The damage caused when it was felled was valued at £622,191 for the tree and £1,144 to the wall, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

A statement by Tony Wilmott, a senior archaeologist with Historic England, said the Sycamore Gap name was coined in the 1980s and over the decades it has become one of Northumberland’s most appreciated features.

Its unmistakable profile has been repeated in many media and because of this it has become totemic. It has become a place of marriage proposals, family visits and even the location of ashes to be spread. The place is much loved by many thousands of people.

The tree’s reputation captured wider public attention after it featured in the film Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman.

Meanwhile, an archaeologist and inspector for Historic England told how stones in Hadrian’s Wall were also damaged when the tree was felled, as it landed across the wall itself.

The wall is ‘internationally recognised’ in its own right and was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1987.

The Sycamore Gap was believed to be around 150 years old

For well over 100 years the tree at Sycamore Gap had stood in a pleasing dip in the landscape next to Hadrian’s Wall, inspiring countless photographs and artworks.

That was until the night of September 27 2023 when the tree, believed to have been planted by landscaper John Clayton in the 1800s, was illegally felled.

It took just two minutes and 39 seconds for the chainsaw’s teeth to bring it crashing down on to the Roman wall.

The mindless vandalism caused national and international outrage as word spread about what had happened to the tree, which had featured in the Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.

Northumberland National Park rangers were in tears when they saw the tree lying across the wall at the remote scene the next morning.

During the trial of Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, prosecutor Richard Wright KC told Newcastle Crown Court: ‘Over many years the tree, and its situation, became a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, feature films and art.’

It was believed that Clayton, a Newcastle-based lawyer who devoted much of his energies to preserving Hadrian’s Wall, planted the tree at that spot to create a feature in the landscape.

The Sycamore Gap was felled in September 2023

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of the Sycamore Gap sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court.

Former friends Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, felled the beloved 150-year-old tree next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland in September 2023 in what was described by prosecutors as a ‘moronic mission’.

At a trial earlier this year, Newcastle Crown Court heard the pair travelled for more than 40 minutes from their homes in Cumbria before carrying out the illegal felling.

One of them filmed the act, although precisely who did what, and why, has never been explained, with the prosecution case claiming that each encouraged the other.

The felling sparked outrage across the country and made headlines around the world with many bemoaning the loss of the tree which featured in the Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

The men were convicted of criminal damage of the tree and the wall and will be sentenced this morning.

Stick with us for live updates throguhout the sentencing with Glen Keogh on the ground at Newcastle Crown Court and Jamie Bullen reporting from London.