Sycamore Gap accused says friend wanted to cut down ‘most famous tree in world’

One of two former friends on trial for cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree told a court his co-accused rang him the morning after it was felled and claimed to be the one responsible.

Daniel Graham said Adam Carruthers had spoken of wanting to cut down the much-loved tree beside Hadrian’s Wall, keeping a piece of string in his workshop he had used to measure its circumference, and ordering a chainsaw he said was “big enough” for the job.

He also said Carruthers asked him to take the blame for the crime “because he had mental health issues” and would be treated more leniently.

Prosecutors say groundworker Graham, 39, and mechanic Carruthers, 32, drove from Carlisle overnight during Storm Agnes to the Northumberland landmark in September 2023.

The pair each deny two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to the Roman Wall.

On the fourth day of the trial at Newcastle Crown Court, Graham was asked about a call Carruthers made to him in the morning on September 28 2023.

He said: “It was Adam claiming he had cut down the Sycamore Gap tree, claiming that it was him that cut it down.

“I told him he was talking shite, I didn’t believe it.”

Graham said Carruthers had spoken of wanting to cut down the tree in the past.

“He mentioned it,” he told the court. “He mentioned a lot of things. I didn’t take it seriously.”

Graham said he remembered Carruthers ordering a big bar chainsaw and saying it was big enough to cover the circumference of the Sycamore Gap tree.

He also said Carruthers had mentioned the Sycamore Gap tree in 2021 while they worked on his father’s Land Rover.

Graham said he wanted to use a piece of string on the job, but Carruthers said he could not as it was “sentimental”.

“He laid this string on the floor, put it in a big circle, that was the circumference of the Sycamore Gap tree,” Graham told jurors.

“At the time I didn’t know of the tree … He told me it was the most famous tree in the world.”

Graham said Carruthers had used the string to measure the tree’s circumference.

Chris Knox, defending, said clearly two people had been involved on the night – one person cutting down the tree and one filming.

Graham said he did not discuss with Carruthers who the other person was.

“Adam felled the tree, I don’t know 100% who the other person was,” Graham said from the witness box.

He told the court that after he and Carruthers had been interviewed by police, Carruthers and a friend called Lindsay Dalgleish came to his home and stood on his driveway.

Asked what they discussed, Graham said: “If it gets on top, would I take the blame, because I have mental health issues. Apparently they would be more lenient with me.”

Graham said he was not keen to take the blame and said no.

Chris Knox, defending, asked: “What was their reaction?”

Graham replied: “They tried to goad us on (saying): ‘Nowt will happen to you, you will get away with it.’”

He said he was not the one using his Range Rover or mobile phone on the night the tree was cut down, when both have been traced to Sycamore Gap.

Graham told the court he first realised his Range Rover had been taken out that night when he saw it had been moved the next morning.

He said it was not unusual for him to leave his phone in the vehicle overnight because he “liked to get away from his phone” after a day at work.

And he said he also saw pictures and video on his phone that morning that had been taken the night before, including one of a chainsaw and a chunk of wood in a car boot, but told jurors: “I didn’t think much of it.”

Graham said he and Carruthers were “best of pals” in September 2023.

Asked by his barrister whether Carruthers had asked to borrow the Range Rover on this occasion, Graham replied: “Adam wouldn’t need to ask to borrow anything of mine. He was welcome to it.”

He told the jury other people were able to use his iPhone, including people who worked for him who used it to connect to the internet via a hot spot.

Earlier, jurors were told that a man believed to be Graham made an anonymous call to the emergency services’ 101 number on August 23 last year and named Carruthers as being responsible for the crime.

Detective Inspector Calum Meikle, the officer in charge of the police inquiry, told the court he was “absolutely” certain that the caller was Graham, having checked the defendant’s phone records and seeing that the time of the anonymous call matched.

The trial was told how the police investigation into the damage included people who had issues with the National Trust, and even a young boy who reported his brother.

Mr Meikle said he looked into the claims about Mr Dalgleish, who has been named by Graham as a suspect during the trial, but was “satisfied that he wasn’t involved”.

The trial continues.