SYCAMORE GAP brute Daniel Graham chopped down the iconic tree when he was facing eviction from his ramshackle home in a bitter planning row.
Neighbours had accused him of destroying the countryside after he turned a field into an “illegal builder’s yard” and plonked a static caravan in it.
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The thug bullied and threatened planners and neighbours and was left seething with rage when the council rejected his application to live in the caravan in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall.
And locals reckon he dreamt up a plan to take revenge by targeting the tree.
One said: “It’s what everyone around here was saying and it makes perfect sense.
“He considered that caravan his permanent home and had asked the council to legally recognise that.
“When they refused the only way it could ever have ended for him was being evicted.
“He’s a tree surgeon, he cuts trees down all the time – what better way, in his eyes, for him to take revenge?”
Graham, 39, was today convicted of two counts of criminal damage alongside his former friend Adam Carruthers.
He had moved into the static caravan in the village of Grinsdale, near Carlisle, Cumbria in 2016.
In October 2022 he applied to Cumberland Council for permission to live there lawfully even though he had never sought planning permission.
Neighbours objected and the local parish council said people felt threatened by his “dominant and oppressive behaviour”.
His application was rejected in April, 2023, and five months later he chopped down the iconic tree together with Adam Carruthers, 32.
He later appealed to the planning inspectorate in a last-gasp bid to avoid eviction, but on April 28, the day before his trial began, the appeal was rejected.
He has been given six months to find somewhere else to live but he is soon likely to behind bars when he is sentenced on July 15.
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Only child Graham, 39, grew up in Carlisle, Cumbria, in a family ripped apart by rows and tragedy.
His parents Michael and Karen split up years ago and she moved out, leading to a permanent estrangement between her and her son.
He remained close to his dad and they would go shooting and fishing together.
But he was left heartbroken when his father committed suicide in 2021.
That tragedy triggered yet another long-term family bust-up which erupted on the day of his funeral – between Graham and his gran Joan Graham, 85.
A family friend said: “They had this weird disagreement over who had found Michael.
“They both claimed to have been the one to do so.
“They were shouting at each other at the crematorium so it wasn’t as if it was the end of the wake when they might have had a drink.
“The row was so bitter she later burnt all his photographs.
“Joan is scared to say anything publicly because she fears that he could be violent and might take revenge against her.”
The pair haven’t spoken since that day – other than to swap insults if they ever saw each other in the street.
After his dad died, loner Graham had few friends and a dysfunctional relationship with an on-off girlfriend.
He admitted in court that Carruthers was his only mate and said: “I don’t go out, I don’t do very much, you could say I’m antisocial, I don’t have much time for people.”
Just days before his trial was due to begin last year, Graham posted a plea of innocence on his Facebook page.
He said: “I did not cut down the sycamore gap I did not do it I hope that the justice system sees what’s true and clears my name this is the honest truth yes somebody borrowed my jeep meny (sic) people did I will led anyone anything but this is something I truly would not do it’s my picture everywhere well here’s a picture of the man with hidden face.”
That was posted at 1.02pm on Sunday, December 1, and 90 minutes later paramedics and cops raced to his home due to a medical emergency after a pal found him seriously ill.
He was rushed to hospital and was later said to be in a critical but stable condition.
The incident delayed his trial at Newcastle alongside Carruthers until last month.
Dad-of-two Carruthers was brought up by parents Terry and Christine in Wigton, Cumbria.
Neighbours described him as an “idiot” who got the sack from his first job as an apprentice at a local factory.
Instead of going to college on a day release course he would spend the time doing up cars on the side.
A neighbour said: “He had quite a good job as an apprentice but they let him go when they found out he was working on cars for people instead of going to college,
“Since then he’s drifted around and ended up doing ground works with this character he met.
“When he was younger he had this mobility scooter – which he obviously didn’t need but which he used to ride around in the street.”
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