Two friends accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree have blamed each other after being accused of acts of “mindless criminal damage”.
Daniel Graham, 39, of Milbeck Stables, Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, 32, of Church Street, Wigton, Cumbria, are currently on trial at Newcastle Crown Court accused of using a chainsaw to cut down the tree on September 27, 2023.
They are jointly charged with causing criminal damage worth £622,191 to the much-photographed Northumberland tree.
The men are also charged with causing £1,114 damage to Hadrian’s Wall, as the tree hit a section of the Unesco World Heritage Site whilst it was falling.
Daniel Graham, 39, of Milbeck Stables, Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, 32, of Church Street, Wigton, Cumbria, are currently on trial at Newcastle Crown Court
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Both Graham and Carruthers have denied the charges.
The two “very good friends” filmed themselves chopping down the popular tree on Graham’s phone, the court heard, before driving back to Carlise.
The next morning, as the news broke and the world reacted to the felling, the pair “revelled” in their infamy.
They were said to have sent messages to each other the next day about the story going “wild” and “viral”, with prosecutors saying they were “excited” about what they had done.
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They are jointly charged with causing criminal damage worth £622,191 to the much-photographed Northumberland tree
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“This is the reaction of the people that did it. They still think it’s funny, or clever, or big,” prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court.
Opening the trial to jurors, Wright said the Sycamore Gap tree had stood for over a century in a dip next to Hadrian’s Wall in the Northumberland National Park, becoming “a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, feature films, and art”.
“By sunrise on Thursday September 28, the tree had been deliberately felled with a chainsaw in an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage.”
Wright also claimed the act took two minutes and 41 seconds to perform and was carried out in a way that “showed expertise and a determined, deliberate approach”.
“Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover, and travelled back towards Carlisle.”
Whilst driving, Carruthers allegedly received a video from his partner of his child and replied: “I’ve got a better video than that”, before sending the clip to himself from Graham’s phone.
Wright said the act took 2 minutes and 41 seconds to perform
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Adam Carruthers leaves Newcastle Crown Court
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A wedge of wood from the tree was found in the boot of the car, with prosecutors claiming it was taken as a “trophy”.
The two men are now blaming each other for the felling, with their “once close friendship appearing to have unravelled”.
He continues: “He [Graham] will say that Carruthers and perhaps another man are to blame and claim that Carruthers has admitted as much to him.
“In contrast, Carruthers denies that he had anything at all to do with the felling of the tree and will maintain that he was not present when it was cut down.
“We will invite you to conclude from the evidence that both of them are lying in an effort to escape responsibility and that each of them is guilty.”
The trial continues.
