2 Men Found Guilty of Felling Britain’s Sycamore Gap Tree

Europe|2 Men Found Guilty of Felling Britain’s Sycamore Gap Tree

Two men have been found guilty of felling Britain’s beloved Sycamore Gap tree in 2023, in what prosecutors called a “moronic mission” that shocked the nation.

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, denied cutting down the tree, but both were convicted on Friday on charges of criminal damage.

The tree, a celebrated landmark that stood by Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern England, was found illegally cut down on Sept. 28, 2023.

Prosecutor Richard Wright told Newcastle Crown Court during the trial that the two friends drove to the site from the nearby city of Carlisle and committed the “act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage” together, filming the felling on a cellphone.

The prosecutor said that Mr. Graham kept a wedge of the tree’s trunk as a trophy, and that messages between him and Mr. Carruthers showed them “reveling in” international news media coverage after the tree was found. They will be sentenced on July 15.

The tree, which stood for more than 100 years in a picturesque dip between two hills, had long been a way marker and memory maker for both British locals and tourists from around the world. It also appeared in the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

Mr. Wright said that the tree, which had been planted in the late 1800s, had been cut down with a chain saw in minutes on the night of Sept. 27, 2023.

Jurors were shown footage of the tree being felled under the cover of darkness, which was taken on Mr. Graham’s cellphone. The phone also contained photographs of a wedge of wood next to a chain saw in the trunk of his Range Rover.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.