Pair accused of 'moronic mission' to fell Sycamore Gap tree filmed themselves, court hears
29 April 2025, 11:04 | Updated: 29 April 2025, 12:41
Two men have gone on trial at Newcastle Crown Court accused of cutting down the landmark tree at Sycamore Gap and filming it on a phone “in an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage”.
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Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers are accused of using a chainsaw to chop down the tree.
Newcastle Crown Court heard at the time the Sycamore Gap tree was felled, Graham and Carruthers were “friends who were regularly in each other’s company”.
The "technique that they used showed expertise and a determined, deliberate approach to the felling”, prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday.
Prosecution lawyer Richard Wright KC said one of the men cut across the trunk, prompting the sycamore to fall and hit Hadrian’s Wall.
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It was described as a “moronic mission”which saw them film what they were doing on Graham’s mobile phone.
The two men reportedly drove to the Sycamore Gap area of Northumberland in Graham’s Range Rover from the Carlisle area, where they lived, late on September 27 2023.
Mr Wright said: “First, they marked the intended cut with silver spray paint, before cutting out a wedge that would dictate the direction in which the tree would fall.
“One of the men then cut across the trunk, causing the sycamore to fall, hitting the wall.
“Whilst he did that, the other man filmed it, filmed the act on Daniel Graham’s mobile telephone.”
Alice Whysall Price, who was on a walking holiday, arrived at Sycamore Gap at Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland around 5.20pm on Wednesday September 27 2023 in wind and rain as a storm approached.
She took a photo of the tree then, proving it was still standing then “as it had been for over 100 years”, the court heard.
Mr Wright added: “At 9.46 the next morning, Thursday 28th September, it was reported to police that the tree had been damaged.
“Pc Borini was the first police officer at the scene that morning.
“By the time he arrived there were already a number of people there.“
Pc Borini noticed that there was silver spray paint on the tree, and that a wedge had been cut out of it to aid the felling.
“He looked for the wedge but couldn’t find it. He set up a cordon and the police investigation began.”
Graham and Carruthers both deny two counts each of criminal damage.
They are jointly charged with causing £622,191 of criminal damage to the popular Northumberland tree.
