Two men have been sentenced to more than four years behind bars after chopping down one of the UK’s most beloved natural landmarks – the nearly 200-year-old Sycamore Gap tree.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were each sentenced to four years and three months in prison for what prosecutors described as a “moronic mission” that left the iconic tree destroyed and part of Hadrian’s Wall, a 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage Site, damaged.
The destruction took place on the stormy night of September 28, 2023. Under the cover of Storm Agnes, the pair used a chainsaw to fell the tree near Crag Lough in Northumberland, the sound of their vandalism masked by howling winds. The Sycamore Gap tree, which famously appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, had stood between two hills along the historic Roman wall and was a cherished location for generations.
Sentencing the men at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Christina Lambert slammed their actions as senseless and self-serving.
“You revelled in the coverage,” Judge Lambert said. “Taking evident pride in what you had done, knowing that you were responsible for the crime which so many were talking about.”
She rejected claims made by Carruthers that he was intoxicated during the act, calling their actions deliberate and premeditated, apparently motivated by sheer “bravado”. Text messages between the men revealed they had filmed the destruction on a mobile phone and shared gleeful messages about it afterward.
Although both men initially denied involvement, their lawyers said they later accepted responsibility while speaking to probation officers. Still, the motive behind the act remains unclear.
The landmark sentencing marks the first time in UK history that anyone has been imprisoned for illegally felling a tree.
Locals have mourned the loss of the tree, often called the “Robin Hood tree”, which was a popular site for picnics, proposals, birthdays and farewells. In 2016, it was named England’s “Tree of the Year”.
Its absence has left a visible scar on the Northumberland landscape and in the hearts of those who cherished it.
Images: Getty / Northumberland Police
