How the 'moronic mission' to fell the Sycamore Gap tree was carried out
For more than a century the Sycamore Gap tree was revered as a thing of beauty in the dip beside Hadrian's Wall where it stood in the Northumberland countryside.
People from across the globe would make the pilgrimage to this iconic landmark, popular for walkers, proposals and stargazers alike.
The 'Robin Hood tree' got its break on the big screen in the 1990s in the Hollywood blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and was hailed the most photographed tree in the country.
In September 2023, it was cut down.
A jury at Newcastle Crown Court found Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers guilty on two counts of causing criminal damage to the tree, valued at £622,000, and £1,114 damage to Hadrian's Wall.
This is the story of how the Sycamore Gap tree came down.
The act
At 10.02am on Wednesday 27 September 2023, a message was sent from Daniel Graham's phone to his friend Adam Carruthers saying: "Big storm tonight we might get onto storm damage get saws warmed up."
That afternoon, Carruthers' phone is traced to cell sites as travelling from his home in Kirkbride in Cumbria, to Carlisle and then as far east as Haydon Bridge in Northumberland.
Just a few hours later, at 5.20pm, a walker named Alice Whysall Price took what is believed to be the final photograph of the tree at Sycamore Gap still standing before it was felled.
That night, at 10.23pm, a call was made between the phones of Carruthers and Graham lasting for one minute and 18 seconds. The prosecution believe this is the last contact between the pair before they travelled together to Sycamore Gap.
Cell site data placed Graham's phone travelling eastbound on the A689 between Carlisle and Brampton. His black Range Rover, which he referred to as "the black pig", was also captured by a traffic camera in Brampton.
At 11.41pm, Graham's phone 'detaches' from the network. This can happen if a device is turned off or switched to airplane mode. The prosecution argued that this had been done deliberately.
Fifteen minutes later, a car was filmed on CCTV turning left past the Twice Brewed Inn and towards the Steel Rigg car park, a popular parking location for visitors to Sycamore Gap.
At 12.32am on Thursday 28 September 2023, a video running to two minutes and forty seconds was recorded using Daniel Graham's phone. Metadata extracted from the media show it was taken at Sycamore Gap.
The original version of the footage shows very little - it is pitch black. However the audio captures the sound of a chainsaw and, in the final seconds, the sound of a tree falling. Prosecutors said this showed the final moments of the tree at Sycamore Gap.
Later, video experts at Northumbria Police would digitally enhance the footage making a figure visible to the right of the tree - and capturing the fall of the tree.
A photograph was also taken on Graham's phone, which prosecutors said showed the outline of the felled tree.
At 12.58am, the same CCTV camera at the Twice Brewed Inn captured vehicle headlights travelling in the opposite direction. An ANPR camera at Brampton once again picked up Graham's car travelling westbound towards Carlisle.
Police enhanced the footage, which was removed from the phone of Daniel Graham. Prosecutors say it shows the final moments of the tree at Sycamore Gap before it was felled.
The 'revelry'
Just before 1.30am, Carruthers' partner sends him a video of their newborn baby being bottle fed.
He tells her: "I've got a better video than that."
Eight minutes later, the video of the tree being felled is sent from Graham's phone to Carruthers'. Two minutes later, Graham's phone reconnects to the network.
At 2am, photos and two short videos are filmed in the boot of Graham's Range Rover. They show a piece of wood next to a chainsaw.
That morning, the world awoke to the grim realisation that the famous tree at Sycamore Gap had been felled. At around 9.46am, police received a report of damage to the tree.
The first officer to arrive on the scene, PC Peter Borini, described seeing "distraught" park rangers and bodyworn footage shows him ushering visitors away so he could put a cordon in place for investigations to get underway.
This World Heritage Site was now a crime scene.
As the story was carried by news organisations across the world, a message was sent from Graham's phone to Carruthers'. It read: "Here we go."
Screenshots and messages were exchanged about the felling. In response to an image of the cut on the stump, Graham messaged: "Not a bad angle on that cut. Must have been a professional.'
Links to media coverage continued to bounce between the pair. "It's gone viral," came one voice message between the pair. "It will be on ITV News tonight."
The prosecution say this voicenote features Adam Carruthers talking about the 'operation' undertaken 'last night'
The law catches up
In the weeks that followed, two people - a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 60s - were arrested as part of the investigation, but they were later released without any further action.
On 31 October 2023, both Graham and Carruthers were both arrested under caution. Both denied any involvement in felling the tree but four days later, following further investigation, the pair were arrested again.
In April 2024, they were charged with causing criminal damage to the tree and to Hadrian's Wall itself.
At the time the tree was felled, the pair were "the best of pals" as Graham would later tell the court. However, their friendship soon soured.
Carruthers told the court that one night, Graham had been to see him at work and told him "I'm going to go my way and you're going to go yours – I believe you have been grassing on me."
In August 2024, officers received an anonymous phone call blaming Adam Carruthers for the offence, alleging that the saws used in the felling of the tree had been returned to him - along with a wedge of the tree itself which was removed to fell it.
The caller declined to give their name or leave a phone number but during a trial, Daniel Graham told the court it was he who had made the call. He also told the court he wished he had given Carruthers' name sooner.
During the trial at Newcastle Crown Court, which got underway on Monday 28 April 2025, Graham said he was at his home the night the tree was felled. While he accepted that his Range Rover was driven to the car park nearest to Sycamore Gap and his phone was used to film the tree being felled, he said his co-accused had taken both.
He told the court that hours after the tree had been felled, Carruthers had told him over the phone that he had been the one responsible and that later, Carruthers had arrived with his friend and a pizza .
Carruthers said he was staying at home in his caravan with his partner and their newborn baby and that on the night the tree was felled, he had been repairing the roof of the washhouse.
Following a ten-day trial, the pair were found guilty of two counts of criminal damage - to the tree and to Hadrian's Wall.
Andrew Poad from the National Trust says those responsible are likely to face a lot of public anger over the felling of the tree
Reflecting on the felling, Andrew Poad, from the National Trust, told ITV News recalled feeling anger in the aftermath.
He said: "When I first heard that it had been deliberately felled, that was my initial reaction, it was anger. It completely changed the complexion of what happened then.
"I would hope that they've seen and heard that huge emotional outpouring as well and what it's meant to so many people. There'll be a lot of people who'll feel a lot of anger around this."
Harold Bowron, a neighbour of Daniel Graham in the village of Kirkandrews, said he was not surprised to hear of his involvement.
He told ITV News: "I was surprised it was somebody from Kirkandrews. I couldn't believe that - when the word got round that is was Daniel Graham.
"He just wasn't part of the community. He was an odd bod. And yeah, he could do a thing like this, I have no doubt at all."
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