It took more than a century for the Sycamore Gap tree to become an iconic sight—and just minutes for it to be brought down, Prosecutor Richard Wright said Tuesday as the high-profile trial into the tree's felling got underway in England. A grainy 2 minute and 41 second video shown in court depicted one person silhouetted against the tree as a chainsaw was used to cut it; the AP reports it's the first time the September 2023 act had been publicly shown. Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal damage; prosecutors have valued the tree at about $830,000 and estimate damages to Hadrian's Wall where it stood Northumberland National Park were about $1,500.
Wright told the court surveillance cameras, cellphone data, and license plate readers indicated Graham's phone and car were in the area that night, and while officials haven't been able to determine who did the cutting and who recorded the act, Wright says it doesn't matter. "These men were in it together from first to last" in what he called a "moronic mission." Wright told jurors the defendants left a trail of evidence, including photos and videos linked to the location with metadata. The pair allegedly boasted of the act the next day as news spread globally.
Wright provided some examples, saying that as they headed home, Carruthers was sent a video of his young child from his partner and replied, "I've got a better video than that." As news of the tree's felling began to spread, the New York Times reports Graham allegedly sent Carruthers a WhatsApp voice note saying, "It's gone viral—it is worldwide." The tree wasn't the only thing that was ruined, per Wright: "Each of them now seems to be trying to blame the other," he said of Carruthers and Graham. "That once close friendship has seemingly completely unraveled, perhaps as the public revulsion at their behavior became clear to them."
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Graham says he was not involved, claims his car and phone were used without his OK, and has implicated Carruthers; Carruthers says he had no hand in the crime. The BBC reports the court was told video also exists of the men cutting down a tree weeks prior, suggesting they had the know-how to take this tree down, and chainsaws were recovered at both of their homes, though not the one thought to be used in the crime. A wedge of wood Wright claims the men took from the tree as a "trophy" has also not been recovered; he said it appears only in a photograph next to a chainsaw in Graham's trunk. (Regrowth has been spotted at the tree's base.) (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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