Prosecutor says Sycamore Gap tree cutters committed 'arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery'

LONDON — Two men who cut down the beloved Sycamore Gap tree did it for a laugh, a prosecutor said Wednesday as he provided a motive for the first time to explain the senseless crime that shocked Britain.

Richard Wright told jurors in his closing argument that the men charged with criminal damage for the ''arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery'' had badly misread their audience.

''They woke up the morning after and soon realized — as the news media rolled in, as the outrage of the public became clear … it must have dawned on them that they couldn't see anyone else smiling,'' Wright said. ''Far from being the big men they thought they were, everyone else thought that they were rather pathetic.''

Wright mocked the defense of the duo, saying common sense and a trail of evidence should lead jurors to convict them for their ''moronic mission'' to fell the famous tree that sat symmetrically in a dip between two hills along ancient Hadrian's Wall in northern England.

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both testified in Newcastle Crown Court that they did not take part in the crime that was carried out early the morning of Sept. 28, 2023.

They have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal damage. Prosecutors said that the value of the tree exceeded 620,000 pounds (around $830,000) and damage to the wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was assessed at 1,100 pounds (nearly $1,500).

The two men had been best friends, but those days are over.

Graham has blamed Carruthers and another man for cutting down the tree, saying they tried to frame him by taking his car to the scene of the crime and using his phone to shoot video of the tree being cut down.

Andrew Gurney, a lawyer for Carruthers, said Graham's story didn't add up and he was projecting his guilt on his former friend.

''Is that a plausible chain of events or is that the desperate story of a man caught out?" Gurney said.

Both men had said they were home that night — about a 40-minute drive away from the tree — as Storm Agnes battered the U.K. with rain and strong winds.

But prosecutors showed grainy video from Graham's phone of the tree being cut down — a video sent shortly afterward to Carruthers' phone. Metadata showed it was taken at the tree's location in Northumberland National Park on the night it was felled. Data showed Graham's Range Rover had traveled there.

Wright said he couldn't say who cut the tree and who held the phone, but the two were the only people in the world who had the video on their devices.

''What a coincidence,'' Wright said.

Text and voice messages exchanged the following day between Carruthers and Graham captured their excitement as the story took on a life of its own. They even appeared to boast about their feat.

In response to a critic on Facebook who called the vandals weak, Carruthers told Graham he'd like to see the man ''launch an operation like we did last night."

Carruthers testified that what he said — or meant to say — was ''he," not ''we'' on the voice message.

Carruthers said he didn't understand why people were upset because it was ''just a tree'' and said the amount of attention was ''almost as if someone had been murdered.''

Prosecutors said another video on Graham's phone showed a slice of wood from a tree and a chainsaw in the back of his vehicle taken at his home. A forensic botanist said there was ''very strong evidence'' it was the missing wedge cut from the Sycamore Gap tree to direct its fall properly.

The wedge has never been recovered, but Wright said it had been the trophy the two took from their caper.

Attorney Chris Knox, who represents Graham, acknowledged his client initially lied to police to cover up for Carruthers, who he said was obsessed with the tree.

Knox said his client may have been irritable in the witness box, but asked: ''Does that make him the Sycamore Gap tree murderer?''

Jurors will begin deliberating on Thursday.