The two men responsible for chopping down the much-loved Sycamore Gap tree are being sentenced this afternoon.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, were found guilty of criminal damage in relation to the felling and Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the Sycamore fell on it.
Judge Mrs Justice Lambert remanded the pair in custody following a trial in May this year and warned the pair they could face “a lengthy period in custody”.
During the trial, Newcastle Crown Court heard the men drove for 40 minutes from the Carlisle area to the Sycamore Gap site, cutting down the tree in the early hours of Thursday 28 September 2023.
The court was shown a video, found on Graham’s phone, which appeared to show the felling of the sycamore in the pitch black, before it fell backwards onto Hadrian’s Wall.
It caused £622,191 of criminal damage to the tree as well as causing £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Both are owned by the National Trust.
The prosecution also claimed the men took a wedge from the tree as a trophy. It, and the chainsaw believed to have been used to cut the tree down, have never been found.
Graham, of Millbeck Stables, Carlisle, and Carruthers, of Church Street, Wigton, Cumbria, are due to be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court today.
Find out the full story in Sycamore Gap: Britain’s Lost Landmark on ITV1 at 10.45pm tonight.
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