Sycamore Gap felling ‘bit of a laugh’ to accused, says prosecutor

Two men chopped down the world famous Sycamore Gap tree as a “bit of a laugh” and then feared becoming public enemy number one, prosecutors have told jurors.

The tree had grown in a dip on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland for more than 100 years before it was felled in a “moronic mission” in the early hours of 28 September 2023, Newcastle Crown Court has heard.

Daniel Michael Graham, 39, from Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Wigton in Cumbria, each deny two counts of criminal damage relating to the tree and the Roman Wall.

In closing speeches, prosecutors said the pair carried out the “arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery”, while the men’s barristers reiterated their innocence.

Jurors were previously told the tree was a much-loved landmark and had global significance for its position on the former frontier of the Roman empire.

Mr Graham’s phone and Range Rover were both tracked going to and from the site, while a video, which prosecutors allege shows the moment the tree was felled, was filmed on his mobile, the court has heard.

A photograph was then taken on Mr Graham’s phone of a wedge of wood, which prosecutors say was a “trophy” taken by the men, in the boot of his car, jurors have heard.

Both men deny any involvement at all with the felling and claim they were each at their respective homes all night.

Mr Graham has told jurors his “best pal” Mr Carruthers admitted doing it and took his car to get to the scene, while Mr Carruthers said he had “no clue” who was responsible and his co-accused was lying.

In his closing speech, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said the “two-man team” and “odd couple” had seen it as “just a tree” and “they must have thought that this was a bit of a laugh”.

But, he said, they had not appreciated the public’s outrage at the destruction of “something so beautiful for no good reason”.

“From Felixstowe to Falkirk and from Bishop Auckland to Barnstable, up and down this country and across the world, the reaction of all right-thinking people to the senseless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has been one of sadness and anger,” Mr Wright said.

He said the video the pair allegedly filmed of “the moment the world famous tree was cut down” was “gold dust” and would have “gone viral”.

Mr Graham and Mr Carruthers were the only people in the world who had that video on their phones and who knew what had happened to the tree, Mr Wright said, and according to them it must just be a “freak coincidence”.

The prosecutor said both men had told lies as, having seen the furore they caused, they did not have the courage to admit what they had done.

“Owning up to this arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery would make them public enemy number one,” Mr Wright said.

He said Mr Graham was “evasive” and “ducked questions by throwing insults or becoming threatening” during the trial.

Mr Wright said it was “rather odd” that Mr Graham claimed he had not heard of the tree until Mr Carruthers told him about it in 2021 when the year before he had reported a car stolen from Steel Rigg, the closest public car park to the tree.

He said Mr Carruthers’ style in court might have been different and less combative but he had been equally unhelpful to jurors.

His phone was tracked travelling to and from near Sycamore Gap the afternoon before the tree was felled, which Mr Carruthers claimed was him embarking on and then aborting a three-hour round trip to the Metrocentre with his partner and their new-born baby.

Mr Wright said that claim was “nonsense” and “actually he was going on a reccy”.

The prosecutor said both men “knew exactly what they were doing” and were “in the business of cutting down big trees together”.

He said they also knew there was a storm coming that night which would be the “perfect weather for cutting down a big tree” as the wind would have pushed the trunk away from falling back on to the saw, thereby reducing the amount of equipment needed.

Mr Wright said the only reason to take away the wedge cut out of the tree was as a “souvenir and trophy”.

The prosecutor said the defendants were “best mates” and “obsessively close friends” who, before they fell out “spectacularly” in the aftermath, did everything together, the “ultimate two-man team”.

Messages the men exchanged in the aftermath showed them “revelling in” what they had done, the prosecutor said.

Christopher Knox, barrister for Mr Graham, said his client’s position was that he was not involved at all and Mr Carruthers and a second mystery man were responsible.

Mr Knox said no “sensible reason” had been suggested for why Mr Graham would want to fell the tree but Mr Carruthers had “some sort of thing” for the landmark and possessed the kit and capability to fell it.

He said it was “extraordinary” when Mr Carruthers told jurors he thought it was “just a tree” and that may have been a clue as to why his client’s co-accused wanted to fell it.

Mr Knox said Mr Graham admitted he had lied to cover up for his “erstwhile very good friend”, with the pair being “reasonably isolated figures”.

Mr Carruthers’s barrister is set to give his closing speech next.

The trial continues.