The two men were found guilty of reducing their beloved Sycamore Gap Tree in northern England in 2023 for unexplained vandalism that sparked widespread rage.
A ju-dean at Crown Court in Newcastle discovered that Daniel Graham and Adam Calzars had been guilty of each of the criminal damages that led to cutting down trees and fell on Hadrian’s wall.
Although this tree was neither the largest nor the oldest in England, it was respected in its picturesque environment planted symmetrically between two hills along an ancient wall built by Emperor Hadrian in 122 A.D., protecting the frontiers of the northwestern Roman Empire and attracting followers for generations.
The tree was known to locals, but attracted international attention with Kevin Costner’s 1991 film, Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves.
He painted tourists, lovers, landscape photographers, and even those who spread the ashes of their loved ones.
“For over a century, the Sycamore Gap has been an iconic natural landmark in the northeastern England and has brought immense joy to visitors to the area,” Gail Gilchrist, the area’s chief prosecutor, said in a statement after the verdict.
“In just three minutes, Graham and the Calzars ended their historic heritage with intentional, heartless vandalism.”
The ju apprentices deliberated for about four hours on Thursday and reached the verdict after meeting in less than 30 minutes on Friday morning.
Neither defendant had any visible responses when the verdict was read.
Facing prison time
Judge Christina Lambert ordered both men who were in custody until the sentence was issued on July 15, saying they could face “a long period of time in custody.”
The maximum sentence for criminal damage is 10 years in prison.
The defendant testified that once were close friends they had nothing to do with cutting trees. Graham pointed his finger at Carruthers.
Prosecutors showed that grainy video from Graham’s tree cell phone was cropped.
Metadata showed that it was taken at a tree location in Northumberland National Park. Data shows that Graham’s Range Rover traveled there.
Prosecutor Richard Wright said he couldn’t say who hanged the tree and who called, but the two men were the only people in the world who had the video on their devices.
The next day, Carruthers and Graham exchanged text and voice messages that captured the excitement when the story became word-of-mouth.
The prosecutors provided no evidence of the motives of the crime other than calling it a meaningless vandalism.
However, Wright proposed to the ju apprentice in his final argument that the man had cut down the tree for a “slight laugh” but failed to recognize the rage of being caught up in a “trembling robbery equivalent.”
“They woke up the next morning and noticed immediately – as news media got caught up, the public’s rage became apparent, so they had to reveal to them that they couldn’t see the others smiling,” Wright said.
“Everyone else thought they were pretty pathetic that they weren’t the big guys they thought they were.”
Prosecutors said the tree was originally rated at over 620,000 pounds (732,000 euros), and the damage to the wall was estimated at 1,100 pounds (1,300 euros).
But on Friday, prosecutor Rebecca Brown said these figures are controversial and likely low, but they still fall into the highest category of harm for the purposes of the ruling.
