TWO pals used a chainsaw to chop down the iconic Sycamore Gap tree in an act of “mindless vandalism”, a court heard.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, took just two minutes and 41 seconds to fell the tree which had stood next to Hadrian’s Wall for more than a century, the jury was told.
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They videoed their “moronic mission” on a mobile phone and then shared the footage, it was said.
And when the shocking crime triggered headlines around the world, the pair were said to have gleefully swapped online news stories about it and gloated: “Here we go”.
The friends, who had felled other large trees, allegedly used an expert “hinge and wedge technique” to chop it down.
They cut out a wedge so the 49ft-high sycamore would fall in a certain direction– onto the 1,900-year-old Roman wall, Newcastle crown court heard today.
The friends took that wedge home with them in the boot of Carruther’s black Range Rover as a “trophy” of their crime, the jury heard.
They deny any involvement, but evidence from mobile phones, ANPR cameras and CCTV footage places them at the scene, it was said.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: “Graham and Carruthers committed these offences jointly.
“Putting it bluntly there were in it together, each of them travelling to the site, each of them taking the necessary equipment, one of them wielding the chainsaw and the other making the recording of the felling.
“The prosecution cannot say which defendant cut the tree, and which defendant was recording the film but we do not need to do so.
“Any person who intentionally assisted, encouraged or caused the damage to happen is as guilty as the person who actually used the chainsaw.
“These men were in it together from first to last.”
Since the tree was felled the former pals have fallen out and are now blaming each other, Newcastle crown court heard.
Mr Wright added: “Their once close friendship appears to have unravelled, perhaps as the public revulsion at their behaviour became clear to them.”
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At 5.20pm on Wednesday September 27, 2023, Alice Whysall Price took the last known picture of Sycamore Gap while it was still standing during a walking holiday in Northumberland.
Later that night Carruthers and Graham linked up and made the 39 minute journey from Carlisle to Steel Rigg car park on Hadrian’s Wall, it was said.
Mr Wright said: “In the late hours of Wednesday they travelled together in Graham’s Range Rover towards Sycamore Gap.
“The prosecution say that Graham’s car, and Graham’s phone are together, travelling towards Sycamore Gap late on the night that it was felled.
“There is a CCTV camera at the Twice Brewed Inn. At 23:55 that camera captured vehicle headlights travelling up and then making a left-hand turn towards the Steel Rigg Car Park.
“It is too dark for the vehicle itself to be seen, but the prosecution say that given the timings of what has just gone before, and the timings of what was about to happen, there is a very high likelihood that this was Graham’s Range Rover.
“They parked, walked to the tree, and then used a chainsaw to deliberately fell it. The technique that they used showed expertise and a determined, deliberate approach to the felling.
“They marked the intended cut with silver spray paint, before then 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 filmed the act on Graham’s mobile telephone.
“Though the tree had grown for over a hundred years, the act of irreparably damaging it was the work of a matter of minutes.
“Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover, and travelled back towards Carlisle.
While on the journey home, Carruthers received a video of his young child from his partner.
He allegedly replied to her: “I’ve got a better video than that.”
The jury heard the pair also joked about “an operation like we did last night” the day after the felling.
Dad-of-two Carruthers allegedly sent Graham a Facebook post that stated: “Some weak people that walk this earth disgusting behaviour.”
Graham then replied with a voice note saying: “Weak… f***ing weak? Does he realise how heavy s**t is?”
Mr Wright said this was “the clearest confirmation, in their own voices, that Carruthers and Graham were both responsible for the deliberate felling of the tree and the subsequent damage to Hadrian’s Wall”.
Graham, of Carlisle, who ran a groundworks firm, and mechanic Carruthers, who also worked in property maintenance, of Wigton, both Cumbria, deny causing £622,191 worth of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 worth of criminal damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The trial continues.
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