1 day Ago By The Telegraph
Credit: Crown Prosecution Service Media Video footage showing the moment the Sycamore Gap tree was allegedly felled has been played in court. Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, are accused of using a chainsaw to chop down the tree, causing irreparable damage in a matter of minutes on Sept 27 2023. It is alleged that the sycamore then fell onto a section of Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco World Heritage site in Northumberland National Park, causing further damage.
At Newcastle Crown Court on Wednesday, jurors were shown grainy footage recovered from Mr Graham’s phone apparently showing the moment the tree was felled. Police analyst Amy Sutherland said they had been able to get the coordinates of where it was filmed from the metadata. She said the coordinates were for Sycamore Gap.
In the video, a figure can be seen appearing to use a chainsaw on the trunk of a large tree with a wide, leafy canopy. There is a loud cracking sound, and the tree can then be seen falling. Jurors were previously told that Mr Carruthers and Mr Graham filmed the act of “mindless criminal damage” and took a piece of the tree with them as a “trophy” The two accused had travelled to the site from the Carlisle area late on Sept 27, the court heard.
Once there, they allegedly used a chainsaw to fell the tree using a technique that “showed expertise and a determined, deliberate approach”. The court was also shown body-worn footage from an officer who discovered the fallen tree the next day. PC Peter Borini said he was alerted to the incident on the morning of September 28 following numerous social media posts about the tree having been cut down.
The footage shows Pc Peter Borini walking across open land to the felled tree, where several people can be seen standing at the scene. Credit: Crown Prosecution Service Media When he arrived at the site there were members of the public there taking videos and park rangers “who were visibly upset and shocked at what they were witnessing”, he said. He tells Northumberland National Park rangers he will make a cordon around the area and asks members of the public to move away from the tree “so we can get as much evidence as we can”.
Ian Everard, who has worked for the Forestry Commission for over 36 years, who examined the tree, said the “hinge and wedge” technique had been used to fell the tree. Mr Everard said it would have been “unequivocally obvious” which way the tree was going to fall. Tony Wilmott, a senior archaeologist with Historic England, said he produced a seven-page report into the damage caused to Hadrian’s Wall.
He said the Sycamore Gap name was coined in the 1980s and over the decades it has become a “symbol” of Northumberland. He said: “Its unmistakable profile has been repeated in many media and because of this it has become totemic. “It has become a place of marriage proposals, family visits and even the location of ashes to be spread.
” “In short, the place is much loved by many thousands of people,” Mr Wilmott said. Archaeologist and inspector for Historic England, Lee McFarlane said the significance of Hadrian’s Wall was “internationally recognised” and it was designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1987. He said: “Hadrian’s Wall marks one of the frontiers of the Roman empire and the importance of the surviving remains has been recognised through (the Unesco designation).
” Ms McFarlane said some of the stones in Hadrian’s Wall were damaged when the tree was felled as it landed across the wall itself. She said it was fortunate the tree was still in full leaf as the crown of the tree appeared to have acted as a “cushion,” and that the damage could have been “catastrophic” otherwise. She said £1,144 of damage had been caused to the wall Mr Graham and Mr Carruthers, both deny causing criminal damage without lawful excuse to the tree and to Hadrian’s Wall.
The trial continues..
