Felling of Sycamore Gap Tree Was ‘Deliberate and Mindless,’ Prosecutor Says

Two men used a chain saw to cut down the celebrated Sycamore Gap tree in the north of England in a “moronic mission” in 2023, and the felling was filmed on a cellphone, a prosecutor in northeastern England said on Tuesday.

The tree, a beloved landmark that stood by Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was found illegally cut down in September 2023.

The trial for the two defendants in the case — Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, England — opened on Tuesday in Newcastle Crown Court, in England’s northeast, less than an hour’s drive from where the tree stump stands.

The men have pleaded not guilty to two charges of criminal damage. Presenting the case against the defendants on Tuesday morning, the prosecutor, Richard Wright, called the felling a “moronic mission” and an “act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage.”

He told jurors that Mr. Graham and Mr. Carruthers had driven to the site from the nearby city of Carlisle late on Sept. 27, 2023, to deliberately chop down the tree.

Mr. Wright said that the tree had been cut down with a chain saw in minutes, using methods that indicated specialist knowledge of felling, and that the act had been filmed on Mr. Graham’s phone.

The prosecutor told the court that a wedge cut out from the tree had later been photographed next to a chain saw in the trunk of Mr. Graham’s Range Rover. “This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions,” Mr. Wright said, “actions that they appear to have been reveling in.”

Prosecutors said that evidence gathered from the defendants’ phones suggested that they had shared social media posts and international news reports after the felled tree was discovered, with Mr. Graham sending Mr. Carruthers a WhatsApp voice note saying, “It’s gone viral — it is worldwide.”

Mr. Wright, the prosecutor, said that Mr. Graham, who owns a construction company, and Mr. Carruthers, who worked in property maintenance and mechanics, were friends and had felled another large tree together a month earlier.

Mr. Wright said that prosecutors could not prove which man had cut down the tree but that digital evidence indicated that both Mr. Graham and Mr. Carruthers were at the scene.

He said that cellular data indicated that both defendants’ phones traveled to and from the Sycamore Gap area along main roads on the night, while CCTV and traffic cameras picked up Mr. Graham’s Range Rover on the same route.

Mr. Wright said that the men’s precise role did not need to be established for them to be found guilty of criminal damage, adding: “Whoever filmed the cutting down was as much responsible for the damage to the wall and the tree as the man wielding the chain saw — they were in it together.”

Both defendants deny felling the tree and have pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal damage, which relate to the tree and the part of Hadrian’s Wall — the Roman fortification stretching 70 miles across northern England — that it collapsed onto.

Mr. Graham denies any involvement in the incident, saying his car and phone were used without his knowledge and that Mr. Carruthers and an accomplice were responsible. Mr. Carruthers also said he was not present and that he was not involved in the felling of the tree.

The trial is expected to continue for two weeks.

Many had mourned the destruction of the tree, an icon that stood on Hadrian’s Wall, which the occupying Roman army built in the second century.

The tree had long been a way marker and memory maker: a site of wedding proposals and remembrance ceremonies, a sentry in photos from one-in-a-lifetime family vacations, taped to fridges across the world. It also appeared in the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

It was almost 200 years old when it was illegally cut down.

In August, rangers spotted a few sprouts near its base, an unexpected sign of new life, and seeds and genetic material that scientists gathered from it last year have also started to grow. The National Trust intends to give out 49 saplings next year to spread the tree’s legacy.

That number is intentional, according to Andrew Poad, the general manager of Hadrian’s Wall, which is partly managed by the National Trust. The tree was 49 feet tall when it was felled. And the saplings will be about a foot tall when they are given to their recipients.