Two men used a chain saw to reduce the famous Sycamore Gaping Tree in northern England in a “scary mission” in 2023, and slaughter was filmed on a mobile phone, a prosecutor in northeast of England said on Tuesday.
The tree, a beloved benchmark that was held near the Hadrian wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was found illegally cut in September 2023.
The trial for the two accused in the case – Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both of Cumbria, in England – opened Tuesday before the court of Newcastle Crown runs, in the northeast of England, less than an hour’s drive from the strain of the tree.
Men pleaded not guilty of two accusations of criminal damage. Presenting the case against the defendants on Tuesday morning, the prosecutor, Richard Wright, described the “agitated mission” and an “act of deliberate and insane criminal damage”.
He told the jurors that Mr. Graham and Mr. Carruthers had taken place on the site of the neighboring city of Carlisle at the end of September 27, 2023 to deliberately cut the tree.
Wright said that the tree had been cut with a chain saw in a few minutes, using methods that indicated specialized knowledge of slaughter, and that the act had been filmed on Mr. Graham’s phone.
The prosecutor declared in court that a cut corner of the tree was then photographed next to a chain saw in the trunk of Mr. Graham’s Range Rover. “It was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions,” said Wright, “actions that they seem to delight.”
The prosecutors said that evidence collected on defendants’ telephones suggested that they had shared publications on social networks and international reports after the discovery of the abatual tree, Mr. Graham sending Mr. Carruthers a note of voice of WhatsApp saying: “It has become viral – it’s in the world.”
Wright, the prosecutor, said that Mr. Graham, who owns a construction company, and Mr. Carruthers, who worked in the maintenance of goods and mechanics, were friends and had shot another large tree together a month earlier.
Wright said the prosecutors could not prove which man had cut the tree, but that digital evidence indicated that Mr. Graham and Mr. Carruthers were on the scene.
He said the cell data said that the two defendants have surrendered to the Sycamore Gap area along the main roads at night, while video surveillance and traffic cameras picked up Mr. Graham’s Range Rover on the same road.
Wright said that the precise role of men did not need to be established so that they were found guilty of criminal damage, adding: “He who filmed the reduction was just as responsible for damage to the wall and the tree as the man eating the saw chain – they were together.”
The two defendants deny slaughter of the tree and pleaded not guilty to two leaders of criminal damage, which relate to the tree and to the part of the Hadrian wall – the Roman fortification extending to 70 miles across the north of England – on which it collapsed.
Graham denies any involvement in the incident, saying that his car and his phone had been used without his knowledge and that Mr. Carruthers and an accomplice were responsible. Carruthers also said that he was not present and that he was not involved in the slaughter of the tree.
The trial is expected to continue for two weeks.
Many had cried the destruction of the tree, an icon which was held on the Hadrian wall, which the occupying Roman army built in the second century.
The tree has long been a marker and a memory manufacturer: a site of marriage proposals and memory ceremonies, a sentry on family vacation photos in life, recorded in the refrigerators around the world. He also appeared in the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”.
He was almost 200 years old when he was illegally reduced.
In August, the Rangers spotted a few germs near its base, an unexpected sign of new life, and seeds and genetic material that scientists collected it last year started to grow. The National Trust intends to yield 49 young trees Next year to spread the heritage of the tree.
This number is intentional, according to Andrew Poad, the managing director of Hadrien’s Wall, who is partly managed by the National Trust. The tree was 49 feet high when it was shot. And young trees will have about a high foot when they are given to their recipients.
