Two men were found guilty of having reduced the beloved Sycamore Gaping Tree in the north of England in 2023 in an act of unexplained vandalism which aroused a general indicative.
A Newcastle Crown Court jury recognized Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers guilty of two charges each of criminal damage for having attenuated the tree, making him switch to Hadrian's wall.
The tree was not the largest or the oldest in Great Britain, but it was prized for its picturesque setting symmetrically planted between two hills along the old wall built by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 122 to protect the northwest border of the Roman Empire and had attracted generations of disciples.
The tree was known to the inhabitants but had received international attention in Kevin Costner's film in 1991 “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”.
This attracted tourists, lovers, landscape photographers and even those who spread the ashes of their loved ones.
“For more than a century, Sycamore Gap has been an emblematic natural benchmark in northeast of England, bringing immeasurable joy to those who visit the region,” said Gale Gilchrist, chief prosecutor of the region, in a statement after the verdict.
“In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers put an end to his historical heritage in an act of deliberate and insane destruction.”
The jurors deliberated about four hours on Thursday and returned a verdict after meeting less than 30 minutes on Friday morning.
None of the two defendants showed a visible reaction when the verdicts were read.
Face a prison sentence
Judge Christina Lambert ordered the two men detained until the sentence of July 15 and said they could face “a long period of detention”.
The maximum sentence for criminal damage is 10 years in prison.
The defendants, formerly close friends, both testified that they had nothing to do with the cup of the tree. Graham pointed his finger on Carruthers.
The prosecutors showed a grainy video of the phone from Graham, a video sent shortly after on the phone of Carruthers.
The metadata has shown that it was taken on the site of the tree in the Northumberland National Park. The data has shown that the Graham Range Rover had traveled there.
Prosecutor Richard Wright said he couldn't say who had cut the tree and held the phone, but the two men were the only ones in the world to have video on their devices.
ADVERTISEMENTThe next day, Carruthers and Graham exchanged text messages and vocals that captured their excitement as history became viral.
The prosecutors did not propose any evidence of a crime reason other than calling it insane vandalism.
But Wright suggested to the jurors in his closing argument that the men cut the tree for “a little laughter” but had not made the anger they would arouse in “the arboreal equivalent of insane wheelbases”.
“They woke up the day after the next day and quickly realized – while the media arrived, when the public's indignation became clear – he had to have trained them that they could not see any other smiling,” said Wright.
ADVERTISEMENT“Far from being the great men they thought to be, everyone thought they were rather pathetic.”
Prosecutors originally said that the tree was estimated at more than 620,000 pounds (€ 732,000) and that the wall damage was estimated at 1,100 pounds (€ 1,300).
But Friday, the prosecutor, Rebecca Brown, said that these figures were in dispute and are probably lower, but that the higher category of prejudices for determining sentence.
