Criminals who chopped down 150-year-old tree finally explain why they did it

The Sycamore Gap saga has finally come to an end, nearly two years after the 150-year-old tree was felled in Northumbria.

After featuring in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and earning its reputation as one of the most-photographed trees in the United Kingdom as it stood proudly by Hadrian's Wall, the loss of the Sycamore Gap sent shockwaves across the nation.

Charged with criminal damage to both the Sycamore Gap tree and to Hadrian's Wall in April 2024, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers have finally been sentenced in a trial that started in April 2025.

Although Mrs Justice Lambert was given a sentencing starting point of 18 months in prison, she significantly bumped it up to four years and three months.

Still, the pair is expected to only serve 40% of that time behind bars, while their time on remand will also be taken off their sentence.

It's still unclear exactly why Graham and Carruthers took down the British landmark, but both were said to show no emotion when their sentencing was read.

There are suggestions that there wasn't much remorse, and while in the witness box back in May, Carruthers said: "It was just a tree. You would have thought someone had been murdered."

Newcastle Crown Court heard how one of the men admitted they'd felled the tree during a moment of 'drunken stupidity', with Andrew Gurney, representing Carruthers, stating: "People want to know ‘Why? Why did you conduct this mindless act?’ Unfortunately, it is no more than drunken stupidity. He felled that tree and it is something he will regret for the rest of his life. There’s no better explanation than that."

Representing Graham, Chris Knox said his client was a 'troubled man' who'd also admitted his involvement, although he didn't expand on why the incident took place.

Still, prosecutors pointed out that chopping down the tree would've likely taken some considerable planning, arguing that they picked a specific day during Storm Agnes to commit the crime at a time when there would be few witnesses.

During the trial, a two-minute video supposedly filmed on a mobile phone by one of the defendants showed another felling the tree with a chainsaw. Carruthers and Graham were also accused of keeping a wedge of the trunk as a trophy.

Neither the chainsaw nor the chunk of wood has been recovered.

Lambert said she was sure that Carruthers had been responsible for taking down the tree, whereas Graham drove them to the scene to film it. She added that she didn't think that Carruthers was drunk, nor that Graham simply went along with his actions. Lambert concluded: "I'm quite sure that you are both equally culpable for the felling of the tree and the damage to the wall.”

Northumbria Police welcomed the verdict, with Supt Kevin Waring branding it as "truly a mindless act of vandalism," adding that there could "never be a justifiable reason for their actions that night."

The National Trust has managed the tree since 1942, reminding us how the landmark had "belonged to the people," and its felling was beyond comprehension.