Graham, 39, and Carruthers, 32, were each convicted of two counts of criminal damage â one for destroying the tree, the other for damaging the ancient wall that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Justice Christina Lambert sentenced the pair in Newcastle Crown Court to four years and three months in prison because there was a high degree of premeditation and planning to destroy the tree and because the act had angered and saddened so many people.
Lambert concluded the two had largely done it for the “sheer bravado.”
“Felling the tree in the middle of the night and in the middle of a storm gave you some sort of thrill,” she said. “You reveled in the coverage, taking evident pride in what you had done, knowing that you were responsible for the crime which so many were talking about.”
A first for a crime against a tree
Sarah Dodd, a lawyer specialising in tree law, said it was the first time in the UK that someone had been sent to prison for illegally felling a tree.
“Today felt profoundly sad. There are no winners,” Dodd said. “The Sycamore Gap tree wasn’t just wood and leaves. It was a marker of memory, history, belonging.”
The tree, in a saddle between two hills, had been known to locals but became famous after a cameo in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. It drew tourists, lovers, landscape photographers and those who spread the ashes of loved ones. It was voted English “Tree of the Year” in 2016.
At trial, the two men testified they were at their homes on the night in question and had nothing to do with destroying the tree.
But faced with spending up to 10 years behind bars, they changed their tune when interviewed by a probation officer in advance of sentencing, though they sought to minimise their culpability, the judge said.
Culprits admit some culpability
Carruthers said he drank a bottle of whisky after a rough day and everything was a blur, Lambert said. While Graham admitted he had joined Carruthers on the journey, he said he was shocked that his former friend had actually cut the tree down.
“Although there may be grains of truth in what you have each said, I do not accept that your explanations to the probation officers are wholly honest or the whole story,” Lambert said.
The tree’s felling in Northumberland National Park on September 28, 2023, caused fury and condemnation as news quickly spread beyond the ancient wall built by Emperor Hadrian in 122 CE to protect the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire.
Messages of heartbreak poured in from around the world, said Andrew Poad, general manager of the heritage and nature conservation charity National Trust.
“This iconic tree can never be replaced,” Poad said in a statement read by a prosecutor. “It belonged to the people. It was a totemic symbol for many; a destination to visit whilst walking Hadrian’s Wall, a place to make memories, take photos in all seasons; but it was also a place of sanctuary.”
Digital evidence connected men to crime
Prosecutors said the tree’s value was estimated at about £460,000 ($945,242), while Graham’s lawyer said it was valued at about £150,000 ($308,231).
Graham, who had a small construction business, and Carruthers, a mechanic who sometimes worked with him, had once been close friends. But the men who showed up together for their initial court appearance with their faces masked had a falling-out as the case progressed.
Graham said Carruthers was guilty and asserted that his friend had tried to frame him. Carruthers’ lawyer said Graham’s story was implausible and accused him of trying to deflect blame.
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Jurors quickly convicted both in May based on a trove of digital evidence.
Graham’s Range Rover was tracked to a location near the tree around the time it fell. Grainy video of the felling was found on his phone â with metadata showing that it was shot at the tree’s location.
As digital data showed Graham’s vehicle on its way back to where the two lived about 40 minutes away, Carruthers got a text from his girlfriend with footage of their 12-day-old son.
“I’ve got a better video than that,” Carruthers replied.
Lawyer says ‘drunken stupidity’ to blame
The black-and-white video showed a single figure next to the tree’s silhouette as a chainsaw sparked to life. The person leaned into the trunk and in less than three minutes the tree that had stood for about 150 years teetered and fell.
Prosecutors couldn’t say at trial who cut down the tree and who memorialised the senseless act, but said both were equally culpable.
Lambert agreed that both shared equal responsibility. But she said the men’s recent admissions made it clear that Carruthers wielded the saw while Graham shot the video. Graham sent the video to Carruthers.
“Unfortunately, it is no more than drunken stupidity,” defence lawyer Andrew Gurney said.
“He felled that tree and it is something he will regret for the rest of his life. There’s no better explanation than that.”
