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Two men convicted of cutting down England’s iconic Sycamore Gap tree.
Two men have been found guilty of cutting down the beloved Sycamore Gap tree in northern England in 2023.
A Newcastle Crown Court jury found Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, guilty of two counts each of criminal damage for felling the tree and toppling it onto the ancient Hadrian’s Wall.
The sycamore, estimated to be almost 200 years old, stood at the centre of a dramatic dip in the landscape, making it a popular spot for photographers, hikers and marriage proposals.
Its silhouette was featured in the 1991 Hollywood movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
The felling, an unexplained act of vandalism, also caused damage to part of Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built nearly 2,000 years ago.
It caused widespread outrage around the world.
‘Mindless destruction’
Jurors deliberated for about four hours on Thursday and reached a verdict on Friday morning, local time.
Graham and Carruthers, once close friends, both testified that they had nothing to do with cutting down the tree.
Neither defendant showed any visible reaction as the verdicts were read. Their sentencing has been scheduled for July 15.
The felled Sycamore Gap tree being removed at Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England on October 11, 2023. (AP: Owen Humphreys/PA)
But prosecutors played footage from Graham’s phone of the tree being cut down and showed that his Range Rover had travelled toward the tree the night it was felled in September 2023.
Text and voice messages were shown to the jury of the two men boasting of the act the next day as news of the tree’s demise spread around the world.
The pair had travelled to the site in the Northumberland National Park from their homes in the Carlisle area, about 40 kilometres away.
They were convicted by the jury of two counts of criminal damage.
“For over a century, Sycamore Gap has been an iconic natural landmark in the north-east of England, bringing immeasurable joy to those visiting the area,” Gale Gilchrist, chief prosecutor for the region, said in a statement after the verdict.
“In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction.”
Prosecutors said the tree was valued at more than 620,000 pounds ($1.2 million), and damage to the wall was estimated at 1,100 pounds.
AP/Reuters