Two groundworkers have today been found guilty of cutting down Britain’s most famous tree.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, face up to ten years in prison for felling the Sycamore Gap tree during a ‘moronic mission’ which lasted less than three minutes, and causing damage to Hadrian’s Wall in the process.
Jurors found the pair guilty after their friendship degenerated and they tried to pin the blame on each other in court. The verdicts were delivered after five hours of deliberations.
The pair, both from Cumbria, drove for 30 miles through a storm, then filmed themselves cutting down the iconic landmark in the early hours of September 28, 2023. Carruthers then forwarded the video to his partner as they fled the scene.
The following morning, when news broke of the vandalism, the pair shared social media posts about the tree with Graham saying to Carruthers ‘here we go,’ as they ‘revelled’ in news reports about the crime.
Prosecutors said the friends thought it would be ‘a bit of a laugh’ – but realised they ‘weren’t the big men they thought they were’ when they saw the public outrage they had caused by committing ‘the arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery’.
Graham and Carruthers were found guilty of causing £622,191 of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Both defendants stared straight ahead and showed little emotion as the guilty verdicts were read to the court. Carruthers sat with hands clasped in front of him, while Graham lifted a hand to his face and stroked his beard.
The sycamore had stood for more than 100 years and achieved worldwide fame when it was featured in the 1991 Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman film, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.
Daniel Graham, left, and Adam Carruthers, right, face up to ten years in prison for felling the Sycamore Gap tree
The Sycamore Gap tree fell onto Hadrian’s Wall when it was cut down. The tree was made famous by actor Kevin Costner when it appeared in his 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.
The 150-year-old sycamore was felled in 2023 in an act which stunned the nation
Grabs from an enhanced version of mobile phone footage showing the Sycamore Gap being felled in September 2023, which was shown at Newcastle Crown Court
A court sketch of Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers appearing in the dock at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court
The Sycamore Gap tree is pictured here in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner
Opening the case to jurors, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: ‘Though the tree had grown for over a hundred years, the act of irreparably damaging it was the work of a matter of minutes.’
Graham and Carruthers were ‘best of pals’ at the time and regularly worked together felling trees.
Graham’s Land Rover was picked up on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras between Carlisle and Sycamore Gap at night on September 27 2023, and returning early the next morning. His phone was traced to cell sites making the same journey.
When police arrested the pair and searched Graham’s phone, they found a two minute and 41 second video which showed the sycamore being cut down at 12.30am on September 28, and had been sent to Carruthers.
They also found photos and videos of a wedge of tree trunk and a chainsaw in the boot of Graham’s Range Rover, although these have never been found.
Messages and voice notes between Graham and Carruthers the next day showed them talking about the story going ‘wild’ and ‘viral’, referring to ‘an operation like we did last night’ and joking that damage looked like it had been done by a professional.
Groundworker Daniel Graham (left), 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers (right), 32, had denied two counts of criminal damage in relation to the tree and Hadrian’s Wall
An image found on Daniel Graham’s phone of a chainsaw and wedge from the tree in the boot of his car
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, pictured working together. The relationship between the pair has evidently broken down since
The Sycamore Gap featured in the 1991 blockbuster Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (pictured) starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman
A man named Kevin Hartness posted about the tree on Facebook, writing: ‘Some weak people that walk this earth; disgusting behaviour.’
Carruthers sent this post to Graham, and later sent a voice note in which he said: ‘I’d like to see Kevin Hartness launch an operation like we did last night… I don’t think he’s got the minerals.’
In August last year, Graham made an anonymous phone call to the police in an attempt to implicate his friend and save himself.
Officers instantly recognised his voice as he told them that ‘one of the lads that [did] it, Adam Carruthers,’ had taken his chainsaws back home.
The ‘anonymous caller’ said if police searched Carruthers’ home and workshop they would find the saws and part of the felled tree, along with a shotgun and a pistol.
No firearms, chainsaws or the tree wedge were found, however.
On December 1, 2024, days before the trial was originally scheduled to begin, Graham took to Facebook to accuse Carruthers of felling the tree, posting a series of images of his former friend.
‘I truly would not do it,’ he wrote.
‘It’s my picture everywhere. Well, here’s a picture of the man with [the] hidden face.’
In a tense exchange with Mr Wright during his cross examination, Graham tried to justify turning on his friend.
He said Carruthers and an associate had tried to intimidate him into taking the blame for cutting down the tree, insisting that the criminal justice system would be lenient towards him due to his mental health issues.
He added: ‘If someone is costing me money and affecting my business then I will f***ing grass.
‘No doubt about it he [Carruthers] is the one holding the chainsaw. Adam felled the tree, I don’t know 100 per cent who the other person was.
‘I was annoyed about my business suffering through his actions.’
To explain away number plate and phone site evidence against him, Graham insisted that Carruthers and an accomplice had taken his car, with his phone inside, and driven to the Sycamore Gap without his knowledge while he had been sleeping in his caravan.
A photograph that was shown to the jury during the trial, showing a collection of chainsaws
Costner, who plays the protagonist, and Freeman, who plays warrior Azeem, visit the tree in the movie
Police vehicles near the location of the tree next to Hadrian’s Wall the day after it was cut down
Graham, pictured, tried to justify turning on his friend
Graham and Carruthers, seen here in a court sketch, were arrested in connection with the felling of the tree in October 2023
Graham (pictured) insisted that Carruthers and an accomplice had taken his car, with his phone inside, and driven to the Sycamore Gap without his knowledge while he had been sleeping in his caravan
Adam Carruthers now faces up to ten years in prison
Adam Carruthers outside Newcastle Crown Court yesterday
Part of the tree had been marked with white paint, indicating the culprits felled it with a chainsaw
Carruthers, for his part, did not directly accuse Graham of being involved in felling the tree.
But he insisted that on the evening the tree was felled he had tried to take his partner and young children for a meal at the Metrocentre in Gateshead but turned back because their 11-day-old baby was unsettled.
Jurors rejected these flimsy alibis and found the pair unanimously guilty of causing criminal damage worth £622,191 to the tree and £1,144 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco world heritage site owned by the National Trust.
They now face up to ten years in prison.
The iconic tree that captured the world’s imagination: Sycamore Gap became a backdrop to Hollywood blockbuster and site of helicopter crash that nearly killed a national treasure
In 2003, the tree escaped damage when a helicopter that was filming documentary series British Isles – A Natural History crashed less than 100 feet away
Known to some as the Robin Hood Tree after its appearance in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film, Sycamore Gap was one of the most photographed trees in the country.
It stood next to Hadrian’s Wall near Crag Lough in Northumberland and is believed to have been planted in the early 18th century.
It is said to have once stood alongside others but eventually became the only one left – making it especially photogenic.
In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the hero – played by Costner – is seen pulling leaves from the tree as he walks under it with the warrior Azeem, who is played by Morgan Freeman.
The tree also featured in the music video for American star Bryan Adams’ hit (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, which was the soundtrack for Costner’s Robin Hood film.
In 2003, the tree escaped damage when a helicopter that was filming documentary series British Isles – A Natural History crashed less than 100 feet away.
The four onboard the aircraft were injured, but presenter Alan Titchmarsh, who was standing on the ground, narrowly escaped harm.
Titchmarsh said at the time: ‘I was pretty shaken and I was worried the copter was going to explode. The crew scrambled out and ran like hell.’
An eyewitness added: ‘Alan Titchmarsh was very lucky not to be hit.
‘He was almost underneath the helicopter when it fell but jumped out of the way as it came down.
‘The aircraft landed on its side and everyone, including Alan, ran to help. Everyone was amazed the crew were not seriously hurt.’
