Having been found guilty of chopping down the famous and iconic Sycamore gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall, Adam Carruthers, 32, and Daniel Graham, 39. were both sentenced to four years and three months in prison on Tuesday 15 July.
Adam Carruthers
Andrew Gurney, speak in in defence for Carruthers was reported as telling the court that his client had it last offered a motive for chopping down the famous Sycamore gap tree. Gurney said that the involvement of Carruthers in felling the tree was due to ‘drunken stupidity’. The admission was said to come in Carruthers’ pre-sentence report. Gurney argued that his client wanted to cleanse his conscience of what he had done.
Gurney said that that there was really no better explanation than that and that this was something that Carruthrrs would regret for the rest of his life.
Gurney also described Carruthers as a person of good character who was a decent father and a hard worker. The active criminal damage committed by Carruthers was said by Gurney to be an “anathema” to him.
Daniel Graham
Meanwhile, Chris Knox who was defending Daniel Graham talked about “malign intent” towards his client. Knox described how Graham’s home and business were attacked after he was remanded in custody, with windows broken.
Knox argued that Graham, “is a troubled man who was had very real difficulties in his life, which have not all been of his own making.” Indeed, Knox revealed that Graham had previously had to go to hospital due to a depressive illness.
It was reported that Knox had said that Graham would have to rebuild his life, when he is eventually released, stating that. “He will have to rely on his friends to get himself re-established”.
Carruthers and Graham
It was also noted that Carruthers and Graham used to socialise and work together and were really quite close but had fallen out since their arrests and that each were trying to blame the other.
The judge
Mrs Justice Lambert the judge, was reported as saying:
“You went with the intention of felling the sycamore tree which had grown in the dip of Hadrian’s Wall. As experienced tree surgeons you took with you the tools which you needed for that task”.
Lambert went on to say the high degree of planning had gone into the operation, while it was less clear whether Carruthers and Graham had really wanted to damage Hadrian’s Wall itself, but rather had taken any such harm to be little more than collateral damage.
The judge also rejected Carruthers’ claim that he had been drunk, claiming instead the bravado was the main reason why the two men had committed such an act. She also noted the Graham had enjoyed it, when others were investigated for the crime.
Finding both men equally guilty, Justice Lambert said that it was right that they should each get the same sentence, and each man was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree.
Comment
What a mess these two men have got themselves into. It is also a mess for many people to whom the Sycamore Gap tree was something and somewhere really special. Shortly after the felling, people were asked for their feelings about what had happened. I will leave the last words on the tree to two who responded.
Michael Palmer, a local man said: “Sycamore Gap is a Northumberland symbol, more than a piece of landscape, more than just a tree; it’s as instantly recognisable as the Palace of Westminster or the Liver Building.”
Meanwhile a Cork man, Seamas Enright discovered the tree in 2011 and later commented: “I wasn’t aware of its reputation, but it struck me that it had managed to eke out an existence for itself in the rocky soil of Northumbria, blissfully unaware that it was living where the northern fringe of the Roman Empire was designated to be 1,800 years ago.”
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