TWO idiot pals have been found guilty of chopping down the iconic Sycamore Gap tree in an act of “mindless thuggery”;.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, in the dead of night using a chainsaw for their “moronic mission”;.
It took just to cut down the tree, which had stood next to Hadrian’s Wall for more than a century.
As the pair’s sick act sent shockwaves across the country, they brazenly boasted to each other about going “viral”;.
Carruthers and Graham have now been found guilty of two counts of criminal damage following a trial.
Newcastle Crown heard the friends struck in September 2023 after driving from Carlisle overnight during Storm Agnes to cut down the “most famous tree in the world”;.
Grainy footage showed one of the pair using a chainsaw to fell it at around 12.30am while the other filmed.
They took a wedge of the ancient tree with them in the boot of Carruthers’ Range Rover as a “trophy”;.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: “For over a century, a Sycamore tree had stood in a dip, next to Hadrian’s Wall.
“The tree became a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, feature films, and art.
“It was held high in the affections of so many members of the public and had come to be known as the ‘Sycamore Gap’.
“By sunrise on Thursday 28 September, 2023, the tree had been deliberately felled with a chainsaw in an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage.”;
Carruthers later sent the damning video to his girlfriend after she shared a clip of their young child.
He gloated: “I’ve got a better video than that.”;
Jurors were told the the tree was a much-loved landmark and had global significance for its position on the former frontier of the Roman empire.
But as the rest of the world were left horrified by the act, Carruthers and Graham sent each other bragging voice notes.
One person had written on that there are “some weak people that walk this earth, disgusting behaviour”;.
Graham then asked Carruthers: “Weak? F***ing weak? Does he realised how heavy this s**t is?”;
Carruthers replied: “I’d like to see him launch an operation like we did last night...I don’t think he’s got the minerals, s****bag.”;
Another note from Carruthers to Graham said: “Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like news, news, news. I think it’s gonna go wild.”;
While one from Graham to Carruthers at 11.17am said: “Jeffrey (a name Carruthers uses) it’s gone viral. It is worldwide. It will be on ITV news tonight.”;
During their evidence, the former friends turned on each other in a bid to clear their names.
Graham claimed Carruthers phoned him the morning after the tree was felled and confessed it was him.
He claimed the dad-of-two had previously spoken of wanting to cut down the much-loved tree but he “didn’t take it seriously”;.
Graham also claimed Carruthers asked him to take the blame for the “because he had mental health issues”; and would be treated more leniently.
In his own evidence, Carruthers told jurors he was amazed at the public’s reaction as he thought it was “just a tree”;.
He added: “I didn’t understand how a tree would be able to hit the headlines as much as it did.
“It was almost as if someone had been murdered.”;
Prosecutor Mr Wright said the two men were “in it together from first to last”;.
He added: “Owning up to this arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery would make them public enemy No1.
“Neither of them has got the courage to do that.”;
Graham, who ran a groundworks firm, and mechanic Carruthers, denied causing £622,191 worth of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 worth of criminal damage to Hadrian’s Wall.
The pair will be sentenced at a later date.
