[kellyhound]

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, sentenced for act of criminal damage that sparked widespread sadness and anger.

Two men who carried out a “moronic mission” to fell one of the most loved and photographed trees in the UK have been jailed.

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were each given prison sentences of four years and three months for an act of criminal damage that caused the Sycamore Gap tree to crash down on to Hadrian’s wall in Northumberland on a stormy September night in 2023.

The attack, using a chainsaw in the middle of the night, was met with sadness, disbelief and anger that rippled around the world.

Sentencing the men at Newcastle crown court, Mrs Justice Lambert said the motive remained unclear but she rejected a claim by Carruthers that he was drunk.

The judge said Carruthers cut down the tree with a chainsaw while Graham filmed him, suggesting that “sheer bravado” and “some sort of thrill” were likely factors.

The sycamore was probably planted in the late 19th century and in recent decades the site was known as a beauty spot where people went to picnic, celebrate birthdays, propose marriage, spread ashes or just take photos.

Graham, from Carlisle, and Carruthers, from Wigton, were found guilty in May of the criminal damage of the tree and the wall beside it, a Unesco world heritage site.

They had denied the offence even though there was evidence that Graham’s car had been used to drive to the beauty spot with a chainsaw in the boot.

During an eight-day trial, the jury watched footage from Graham’s phone of the tree being felled and heard messages between the pair that the prosecution said showed them revelling in the infamy.

The prosecutor, Richard Wright KC, said during the trial that the crime was a “moronic mission” and the “arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery”, and that the two men showed a “basic lack of decency and courage to own up to what they did”.

At the sentencing on Tuesday, the court heard a victim impact statement from Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust of the Sycamore Gap site.

Read by a barrister, the statement described the public response to the felling as “unprecedented”, adding that “an overwhelming sense of loss and confusion” had been felt around the world.

“The question was why anyone would do this to such a beautiful tree in such a special place. It was beyond comprehension,” he said.

“This iconic tree can never be replaced. It belonged to the people. It was a totemic symbol.”

Carruthers’ barrister, Andrew Gurney, said his client would have to “bear the burden of what he had done for the rest of his life”.

“He is a man of previous good character,” Gurney said. “That is gone. He will forever be linked to this act. He will have to carry this as some form of personal penance.”

Gurney acknowledged people wanted to know why the tree had been felled, but said: “Unfortunately it is no more than drunken stupidity. It is something he will regret for the rest of his life.”

At the sentencing Wright urged the court to reject the idea that either man was intoxicated.

“The court can be sure they were sober and prepared to do what they did,” he said, with the felling requiring a “high degree of planning and premeditation”.

Wright added: “This was an expedition which required significant planning in terms of taking a vehicle, driving for about 40 minutes to a car park, taking with them appropriate specialist equipment, carrying the equipment for about 20 minutes’ walk in each direction.

“The felling was carried out in a deliberate, professional way.”

Christopher Knox, defence barrister for Graham, said his client had been remanded in custody before the trial for “his own sake” after attempting to take his own life.

Knox described Graham, who owned a groundwork business, as a “troubled man” who had a much more positive side to him than what was being seen in court.

“This is a man who was making a living with a decent business, a proper business,” he said.

He said Graham’s home had been damaged since his arrest and he had received hate mail.

The judge said the felling caused widespread distress.

She told them: “You revelled in the coverage, taking pride in what you have done, knowing you were responsible for the crime so many people were talking about.

“Whether that was the sole explanation for what you did, I do not know, however I know you are both equally culpable.”

Kim McGuinness, the metro mayor for north-east England, said she hoped the pair now realised the seriousness of their actions.

“I’m glad to finally see justice being done, but the sentence could never reflect the devastation we all still feel for the loss of our beloved Sycamore Gap tree,” she said.

The public gallery was packed for the sentencing and included 78-year-old Sheila Hillman, who had travelled up with her husband John, 84, from Wolverhampton.

Originally from Newcastle, she said she was “incensed and heartbroken” by the felling and wanted to see justice being done.

But she thought the sentences were too short and still did not understand why the pair had done it. “There’s plenty of trees in Cumbria for them to cut down.”

[marcos_69]

What a couple of jackasses.

[marcos_69]

.

[spycosis]

This is how the cowards turned up to court for sentencing. They will almost certainly never be able to eat out or drink in a pub ever again because in a crowd of 20 people there will be at least one who will actually go ahead and smack the shit out of them. They didn't just vandalize a tree, they vandalized the whole of England.

[kellyhound]

Who are they?

Neighbours in the quiet street in Carlisle where 39-year-old Daniel Graham grew up told they remember him as an "average kid" before his parents' separation - describing that as an event which "sent him off the rails."

His dad Michael took his own life in 2021, something Graham spoke about while giving evidence in court in relation to his struggles with poor mental health.

He was estranged from many members of his family, with one saying he would "fly off the handle at anything".

For the last decade Graham lived and worked on a patch of land on the outskirts of Kirkandrews-upon-Eden, just outside Carlisle.

He called it Millbeck Stables and ran his company, DM Graham Groundworks, from the site on a secluded lane, nestled among large country homes.

His place got a caravan, horses on the land and pillars at the entrance with lions on the top.

Graham erected a series of buildings, a stable block, horse shelter and storage unit, gaining planning permission for some of them.

He lived on site in a static caravan, largely hidden behind big metal gates which included his initials.

Harold Bowron, chairman of the village's Parish Hall Committee, said Graham was "a man of mystery, a bit of an odd-bod".

"There were these black gates and then a tall fence all round the site with black plastic sheeting so you couldn't see in, but there were lights on all night.

"His lorry is still there. You can see in now because all the plastic has come down."

A planning application for Graham to be allowed to live on the site was rejected in April 2023, five months before the Sycamore Gap tree was cut down.

He had not been paying council tax and among the comments on the application was a claim he had displayed "dominant and oppressive" behaviour.

"When news came out he'd been arrested, we weren't surprised," Mr Bowron said.

"Everyone was saying 'oh yes that strange bloke'."

In court, the jury heard that tree felling was part of Graham's business and he owned three or four chainsaws.

Adam Carruthers helped him with that work, and the court was told the pair were close friends.

Carruthers grew up in Wigton, a market town in Cumbria with a history stretching back to medieval times.

His parents still live there and town councillor Chris Scott described it as a place where families put down roots and stay for generations.

Scott did not know Carruthers personally, but runs a social media site for the town and remembers a "curious silence" when he was arrested.

"People weren't discussing it all, which surprised me because it was such a big story at the time."

A childhood friend of Carruthers said he was "a bit of an outcast" but also the last person he would expect to have been involved in the felling of the tree.

His arrest was "the talk" of their school friendship group.

"Growing up we were the good kids," the friend said. "We couldn't get our heads around it. You would never ever think he would do something like that."

Carruthers went to Nelson Thomlinson School where another fellow pupil described him as a "bit of a loner".

"He always kept to himself and in classes he wouldn't talk. Teachers would try and get him to talk, and fail."

At the time of his arrest in October 2023, Carruthers had recently become a father for the second time and was living in a caravan with his partner at Kirkbride Airfield.

Graham and Carruthers met in 2021 when the latter, who was a mechanic, repaired a Land Rover belonging to Graham's father so it could be used for his funeral.

Graham called Carruthers his "best pal" and paid him to help him on jobs, splitting the cash evenly.

But their friendship splintered as the trial unfolded, with Graham blaming Carruthers who, in turn, said he had no idea who did it.

The men denied any involvement but, after being found guilty, made admissions to probation officers.

Carruthers claimed it was nothing more than "drunken stupidity", while Graham alleged it was his co-accused's "dream" and "show" and he just went along to help.

When jailing them for four years and three months each, Mrs Justice Lambert said a full motive was not known but "sheer bravado" and getting a thrill from the outrage were factors.

Messages they exchanged in the aftermath showed them revelling in their notoriety, the judge said.

In one voicenote, Daniel Graham exclaimed: "It's gone viral, it is worldwide."

Newcastle University's Bethany Usher, who specialises in crime journalism, is among those who believe the pair were craving attention.

"Social media has completely changed the way we view ourselves, taking video of ourselves doing things is so part of our lived experience," she said.

"What became clear from the trial is that they enjoyed the attention they got worldwide.

"It's like they were saying 'I'm someone, I have got the attention of people', and they forgot that what they were doing was providing evidence for the police.

"The truth is they knew the tree was special, but they were trying to show they counted more."

Dr Philip Stone from the University of Lancashire, who studies dark tourism where visitors travel to sites of death, brutality and terror, said the pair may have "enjoyed watching the distress they had caused from such spiteful, wanton ecological vandalism".

"To use the German psychology phrase schadenfreude, some people take a pleasure in other's people's misfortune and getting a sense of perverted pleasure from the response from that.

"It is as though they are thinking 'Yeh, I'm going to get my 15 minutes of fame, but I'm also going to get pleasure in seeing other people's grief'."

Among those hurt by the loss of something both very public and personal was Hayley Graham-Hardy.

She got engaged at the Sycamore Gap tree and, after her wedding, she and her husband Lee posed for their photographs there.

"Strong, resilient always there, the tree symbolised what we wanted our marriage to be," she said.

The couple had hoped there had been more to the felling than Carruthers and Daniel having "a bit of a laugh" and it "stung" to find out that seemed to be their only motive.

"They sent messages to each other about someone not having the 'minerals' to do what they did," she said.

"I'd like to say to them, 'you guys haven't got the minerals to own up to what you did and I hope that sticks with you in prison'."

[spycosis]

I still find it incredible that this clown is 39 years old

[Xploit Machine]

cut their dick

[AnaleFaust]

Fucking twats

[azblue81]

Apparently this thread is moderated by a tree huggin’ hippie.

[Major_Tom]

Well you get two types of people on this, the "it's a tree" people who will never understand why it's a big deal, and the "it's a tree" people that completely understand why this is such a big deal.