Video shows felling of Sycamore Gap tree

Video shows felling of Sycamore Gap tree – trial

Mobile phone footage which prosecutors claim shows the moment the ‘iconic’ Sycamore tree was felled was shown to jurors.

The video was viewed in the Newcastle trial.

The tree had stood for more than 100 years in a dip on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland before it felled in a ‘moronic mission’. This done in the early hours of 28 September 2023, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Daniel Michael Graham, 39, from Carlisle and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Wigton in Cumbria deny two counts of criminal damage relating to the tree and the Roman wall.

Jurors told the tree, a much-loved feature in Northumberland, had global significance for its position on the former frontier of the Roman empire.

On the night of 27 September, Carruthers and Graham made a 40-minute drive in the latter’s Range Rover from Cumbria. This to chop the tree down, prosectors allege.

While one used a chainsaw to fell the tree, the other filmed the act of ‘mindless’ vandalism on Graham’s mobile phone, jurors heard.