Sycamore Gap accused thought world-famous tree would be ‘good trophy,’ jury told

One of two former friends on trial for cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree had a “fascination” with the tree and thought it would be “a good trophy,” his co-accused has told a court.

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.

Graham also told Newcastle Crown Court his co-defendant rang him the morning after the tree was felled and claimed to be the one responsible.

He 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.

The court has heard they sometimes worked together and had experience felling large trees.

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 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.

Graham agreed with prosecutor Richard Wright KC that Carruthers had a “fascination” with and “strange interest” in the Sycamore Gap tree.

Mr Wright said: “He talked about it in the sense of, it would be a good trophy.” Graham replied: “I suppose so, yeah.”

Mr Wright asked Graham if his claim that he did not know about the tree until Carruthers told him about it in 2021 was a lie, as he had reported a car being stolen from the Steel Rigg car park – used by visitors to Sycamore Gap – in 2020.

Graham said: “Just because I know about the car park, doesn’t mean I know about the tree.”

Asked if he had watched the film featuring the tree, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, he replied: “I’ve watched Robin Hood but it doesn’t mean I know where that tree is.

“The first time this legendary tree was mentioned to me was in 2021. I wasn’t interested in it. I cut trees down, I don’t collect them.”

Graham 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.

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.

Graham said he and Carruthers were “best of pals” in September 2023 and that Carruthers “wouldn’t need to ask to borrow anything of mine”.

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 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.

Graham said they had been friends for about three years but he turned on Carruthers when the Sycamore Gap investigation started affecting his business.

He told the court: “It’s my name all the time, my name before Adam’s. It was always my name associated with it first.

“My name is associated with my business and I started to have people phoning my business giving me abuse about the tree.”

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.