It was a dark and stormy night, as Edward Bulwar Lytton’s novel Paul Clifford famously begins. However, even though, as befits a melodramatic crime, the night of 28 September 2023 was indeed both dark and stormy, Judge the Honourable Mrs Justice Lambert resisted the temptation to begin her sentencing comments with the famous literary cliché. Instead, with exemplary verbal as well as legal precision Judge Lambert laid out the events which saw an international icon, the Sycamore Gap Tree chain sawed to the ground by two men from the opposite end of Hadrian’s Wall, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers. An act of criminal damage and harm to the community which the Judge said would see them in prison for four years and three months. But as the men were taken down from the dock of a packed courtroom one at Newcastle Crown Court, the most important question remained infuriatingly unanswered. While Graham and Carruthers were paying the strictly legal cost of their crime, why did they do it?
In terms of what we do know now thanks to the legal process of bringing Graham and Carruthers to trial, Detective Inspector Calum Meikle who led the Sycamore Gap Tree investigation for Northumbria Police, has confirmed the arrest of the two men in October 2023 was intelligence led after the Police received information they were responsible for the criminal damage on Hadrian’s Wall. Two other individuals had been
arrested previously, which disturbingly Mr Graham at least seemed to relish according to the evidence and as referenced by the Judge.
Using Automatic Number Plate recognition [ANPR] and phone tracking the prosecution also established beyond reasonable doubt that Daniel Graham’s Range Rover and phone were both present at the site on the night of the incident, parking some fifteen minutes walk away from the famous and now ill fated tree.
Metadata attached to a video downloaded from Graham’s phone showing the tree being chain sawed tied it to the exact location of the Sycamore Gap shortly after midnight on the night the tree was felled.
The video also demonstrated that it must have been Adam Carruthers who actually wielded the chainsaw.
In addition, while the wedge itself has not been found, a wedge of wood cut from the Sycamore Gap tree to set its direction of fall was photographed in the boot of Graham’s car.
The prosecution suggested it had been taken as a trophy of the crime by the perpetrators. Trophy taking is a known feature of certain types of criminality, although, as regular viewers of crime drama and police procedural documentaries will know, it is more usually associated with sex offenders and serial killers, not illicit tree fellers.
But then media coverage of this case had taken on so many aspects of a murder trial.
The court was also shown messages between the two men in the hours and days after the tree was felled, a number apparently revelling in their new notoriety.
In one message Carruthers described an “operation” they had carried out. His phone had earlier been located at the scene during the day
Finally, although they seem to have fallen out badly during the investigation and trial, at the sentencing they sat apart in the dock separated by a security officer, the men had been best friends who did many things together and were also familiar with the use of chainsaws to fell trees.
Pre-sentencing reports quoted in court suggested that the two men had finally admitted a role in what happened that night however, Judge Lambert was not entirely convinced they could be believed saying
“Although there may be grains of truth, I do not accept they are wholly honest or the whole story,”
As that whole story, and particularly as to the motive,
“Felling the tree in the middle of the night in the middle of the storm gave you some sort of thrill.” Mrs Justice Lambert suggested, rejecting Mr Carruther’s defence that it was a drunken prank.
It was certainly premeditated she said. It was just that she could not be sure how far ahead the planning had begun.
This lack of a clear motive in the case of the Sycamore Gap Tree is unsettling and inevitably, now the legal process is over there will be fresh speculation and in depth investigations to try to answer that nagging question, why?
But that speculation will also have to take account of other unsettling information which the court and public could now be told.
For example that Adam Carruthers had no previous convictions, was a family man and and was said to be expressing “emerging remorse”, although the Judge added he is “still struggling to accept responsibility for your actions or to recognise impact of your actions on others”. .
Even more personal and disturbing was the confirmation, previously inferred, that while Daniel Graham had several unrelated convictions, he also had a history of depression and had tried to take his own life several times, leading to his being remanded in custody for his own protection in December 2024.
Outside of the court it has also been suggested in the media that Mr Graham could have a complex set of grudges, some possibly centred around planning issues and involving some or all of the organisations involved in the case, not to mention Hadrian’s Wall itself.
Whatever the motivation, these were not criminal masterminds with an agenda, at least not one they wanted to make public for now. Instead, based on what was presented in court, these were isolated, perhaps deeply troubled human beings who crossed half the length of Hadrian’s Wall on a project, maybe in search of notoriety and had they never met the Sycamore Gap Tree would likely still be standing
Finally the Honourable Mrs Justice Lambert handed down the sentences.
Four years and three months in prison for both men on the charges of criminal damage relating to the Sycamore Gap Tree and six months to be served concurrently for causing damage to Hadrian’s Wall. Time already served on remand will be deducted from the sentences and both men will be eligible to apply for release on licence when they have served 40% of their sentences.
Mr Graham’s phone and Range Rover were also ordered seized and destroyed, as presumably would be the chainsaw if the Police ever find it.
Justice seen to be done?
Possibly, but everything about this case is complex.
We can say the reaction of many thousands of people referenced by the National Trust in its impact statement, millions if you count YouTube views, suggests that the #SycamoreGap tree transcended its ordinariness.
In some circumstances Sycamore trees are seen as a pest.
And how deeply rooted is that sense of belonging to all? Does it date to as recently as the release in 1991 of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves which used the site to such iconic effect?
If so did that media creation allow the destruction of a single tree, which could be and is being, grown again, overshadow the offence caused by the damage to Hadrian’s Wall itself, a World Heritage Site which by definition cannot be potted on from cuttings.
Certainly the impact statement written by the National Trust and the reactions of other official bodies, were couched in the same terms as are often applied to the bereaved at a murder trial.
“The universal reaction of disapproval and anger following the destruction of the site speaks volumes of the emotive impact on the public.” Christopher Atkinson, Head of the Complex Casework Unit for the Crown Prosecution Service North East, told the media.
He added,
.
“We only hope that those affected by these events can take some comfort in seeing those responsible jailed today.”
But this was a murder where nobody died, not even the tree…
Maybe the public has been satisfied that justice has been done.
Nonetheless a number commentators, radio phone in hosts and opinion writers are asking two main questions.
Are the sentences handed down to Graham and Carruthers excessive?
And would not a long period of community service caring for and planting trees have been more appropriate and constructive?
And if so much time and treasure can be spent over the loss of one tree, what about the thousands of trees, some much more sensitive ecologically than the #SycamoreGap Tree, which are cut down every week to facilitate roads and building schemes?
Do not all our trees in the wider environment, away from the additional protections afforded by National Park and World Heritage Site status, deserve better protection?
After the sentencing a spokesman for the National Trust said,
“The Sycamore Gap tree was iconic and represented thousands of cherished trees across the country that benefit people, nature and climate,” adding the Trust is committed to securing stronger protections “for these irreplaceable natural treasures”.
Finally, when it comes to such cultural, ecological and heritage crimes, how do you put a value on public offence and upset to bring it into line with sentencing guidelines?
The lawyers managed it in this case, but there was no definitive agreement on physical value except that it exceeded the £5000 necessary to establish the offence as being at the most serious level of criminal damage..
While this was an outrageous, and hopefully unique case, that issue alone will give the heritage and environmental bodies and the law enforcement agencies they work with, pause for thought and hopefully prompt some more secure and generally accepted guidelines and procedures.
Meanwhile, with those wider questions left hanging, two reckless, careless, deeply selfish and perhaps also deeply flawed, human beings are beginning long prison sentences for what must be the most notorious, pointless and inexplicable heritage crime in England in years.
If they seek leave to appeal the convictions they will have to demonstrate an error in either law or fairness and seek leave from the Court of Appeal. We should find out soon if there is to be such an appeal as there is a strict twenty eight day deadline for filing the necessary papers.
And the National Trust reports that shoots are emerging from what is now perhaps the most famous and most watched, tree stump in the country.
It was a dark and stormy night, and a night which still hides some of its mysteries and poses questions for us all.
If you have information about this story, or anything else in the world of archaeology and heritage you think archaeologists and the public should know about, contact thePipeLine in confidence at Proton Mail <PipeLineNews@protonmail.com>
Or via the end-to-end-encrypted App Signal on +44 7958 543518
Featured Image: Gordon Leggett / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
thePipeLine is free to read and we promise it always will be, but researching the kind of story you have just read costs time and money.
If you think it is important that archaeology and heritage has an independent voice speaking truth to power please buy us a Ko-fi
