Emblematic tree of the United Kingdom
Four years in prison for having shot down the Sycamore Gap Tree
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers had cut the tree over 100 years old at the end of September 2023.
The Sycamore Gap Tree, still standing, in 2023.
AFP
Two men were sentenced Tuesday to four years and three months in prison by the Newcastle court for having cut the most famous tree in England Near Hadrian’s wall, two years after this act of vandalism which had moved beyond the United Kingdom.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, received the same penalty. They risked up to ten years in prison for what prosecutor Richard Wright had described as “Still mission”.
The two accused, Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32.
Northumbria Police via AP/Keystone
Judge Christina Lambert who condemned them stressed that their actions had involved a “high degree of planning and preparation” and caused “shock and amazement”.
Filmed slaughter
The “Sycamore Gap Tree”, a majestic sycamore maple nestled for more than 100 years between two hills in a spectacular landscape of Northumberland (North), was one of the most photographed trees in England. He was known worldwide since his appearance in “Robin des Bois: Prince des thieves” with Kevin Costner in 1991.
The Sycamore Gap Tree in front of a boreal Aurora in 2016.
Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File/Keystone
During the night of September 27 to 28, 2023, the two friends, armed with a chainsaw, had led for 40 minutes to a parking lot, a market 20 minutes in the dark and one of them had filmed the other while he slaughtered the tree, then sending him the video. They also swept away a piece of the trunk as a trophy, and the damage is at least 458,000 pounds (527,000 euros) depending on the accusation.
Andrew Poad, one of the officials of the national organization Trust, responsible for the management of the site, spoke of an act “exceeding the understanding”, in a declaration read before the verdict.
“Just a tree”
The day after their mischief, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were delighted with the media coverage of the case, congratulating themselves from a history that has become “viral” by sending out vocal messages and press articles. But the two men never explained why they attacked the famous Sycomore.
During their trial in May in Newcastle (northeast), where they were both guilty, Carruthers explained that he did not understand the emotion caused by the destruction of the maple. It was “just a tree,” he said.
The Sycamore Gap Tree slaughtered seen from the sky.
EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN/Keystone
After first denied the facts and referred to the faultthe former friends admitted to having participated in the operation. One of them said they were in intoxication, which did not convince the prosecution.
One of the accused already condemned
Daniel Graham had already been sentenced, among other things, for offenses to public order in 2021 and 2022. His mobile phone and his car had been located near the site after the fall of the tree. It damaged the Hadrian wall, a Roman fortification 135 km long built between 122 and 127 AD. AD and registered on the World Heritage List by UNESCO. The jurors were able to see a video shot at night, in which we hear the sound of a chainsaw, then the trunk collapsing on the ground.
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According to Andrew Poad of the National Trust, which manages many places of the British heritage, an “overwhelming feeling of loss and dismay was felt around the world” after the destruction of the tree. A place of marriage and family memories, extremely photogenic, the maple had been elected English tree of the year in 2016.
New shoots on the stump
Last year, the National Trust announced that new shoots appeared on the strain. He also recovered seeds and obtained 49 young plants, objects of all care, which must be replanted next winter in spaces accessible to the public, including parks, hospitals and schools.
Part of the trunk has been transformed into a work of art, which visitors can now hug, at the Northumberland National Park reception center. In this permanent exhibition, designed by artist Charlie Whinney, the trunk more than two meters high is surrounded by three oak benches from which visitors can read soil poetic words, linked to the initial sorrow created by its destruction, staged as a branched sculpture.
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