Men found guilty of felling photographers' world-famous tree

Two men from Cumbria, England, have been found guilty of criminal damage at Newcastle Crown Court. Their crime was felling the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree, beloved of photographers for decades.

The men, Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, have each been convicted of two counts of criminal damage, and the verdict – returned at 10:00 today, after the jury took over 4 hours of deliberation – was unanimous.

The judge in the case, Mrs Justice Lambert, has indicated that the men will be sentenced on July 15. And, according to the BBC, the court proceedings will "likely" be televised, such is the level of interest in the vandalism of the Sycamore Gap.

The investigation has been the subject of intense interest, at least in part because people have sought to understand why the men should want to cause harm to a site of such natural beauty that it has long been of interest to tourists and photographers.

According to Northumbria Police, however, there has never been any information about motive. Instead, the investigation was forced to discover that the men had the means and opportunity.

Since the verdict was announced, Gale Gilchrist, spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that the tree was an "iconic natural landmark in the North East of England." She added that, "In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction."

She noted that the criminals seemed to take pleasure in how far and wide the news of their act of destruction spread. The other charge against each man was for damage to Hadrian's Wall. (Read the full CPS statement)

The police, too, noted the strength of feeling among people – including landscape photographers – which motivated them to build a robust case and ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.

The investigation began after the felling in September 2023, as documented by Northumbria Police.

The case involved some very strange details, such as a photo of Mr Graham, taken by Mr Carruthers, holding a pair of owls! (It was more significant that there were chainsaws in the photo – and that there are photos of the pair doing tree surgery.)

The case even discussed whether the pair had seen Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (a film in which the tree appears!).

It also seems there was a video filmed by the pair of the crime in progress:

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