Lambert said she did not accept the defendants’ explanations as “wholly honest or the whole story”.

She said:

Adam Carruthers, your account that you had so much to drink that you had no memory of what happened is not plausible.

The tree felling demonstrated skill and required deliberate and co-ordinated actions by you... It was not the work of someone whose actions were significantly impaired through drink.

Nor, Daniel Graham, do I accept you just went along with your co-defendant. You filmed the whole event, you took photos of the chainsaw and wedge of trunk in the boot of your Range Rover.

The next day, you appeared to revel in coverage of your actions in the media.

The judge added that Graham’s behaviour was not that of someone who was “shocked and horrified” by what had happened.

Judge Lambert said the defendants’ motivation for felling the Sycamore Gap tree is still not clear.

Prior to sentencing, she told them:

Adam Carruthers, you told a probation officer you had no idea why you carried out the crime and could offer no explanation.

You said you had drunk a bottle of whisky after a tough day and everything was a blur.

Daniel Graham, as during the trial, your main focus seemed to be to heap as much blame as possible on your co-defendant.

You now accept you were present but blame him for what happened that night.

The judge went on to say: “You told the probation officer it was ‘(Carruthers’) dream and his show’ and you just went along with it.”

Below is an article from my colleague Mark Brown on the possible motives Graham and Carruthers had behind cutting down the beloved tree at Sycamore Gap.

“It’s one of the most asked questions that I get,” says the detective who helped bring to justice the two men who cut down the Sycamore Gap tree in the middle of a stormy September night two years ago. “As soon as anybody knows I’m involved in the investigation, the first question is: ‘Why?’”

Why would anyone cut down a tree that brought only joy and happiness to people? Did Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers see it as a lark? Or a challenge? Was it a cry for help? A yell of anger?

Was it no more than an act of “drunken stupidity”, as suggested by Carruthers’ barrister Andrew Gurney? Both men were sober, the prosecution argued.

DI Calum Meikle, of Northumbria police, genuinely does not know, he says, and thinks we might never know. “That is potentially the biggest frustration that people hold. Because if there was an obvious reason, if there was an obvious grudge, then people could understand it.”

What the detective, the son of a forester, does believe is that Graham and Carruthers had no idea of the ramifications of what was described in court as a “moronic mission” to cut down the famous tree. “I don’t think they fully understood the enormity of their actions.”

You can read the full article by Mark Brown here: Sycamore Gap: why would anyone cut down a tree that brought joy to so many?

The judge said she felt “overwhelmingly” that both defendants should receive the same final sentence, adding that Graham’s previous convictions were not relevant.

Lambert said Graham’s previous depressive illness was not a factor in the offences committed.

Lambert said “sheer bravado” was a major factor for the men, who experienced “some sort of thrill” from the felling.

She also rejected a claim from Carruthers that he was drunk when the tree was cut down.

The judge said Graham “savoured” in others being investigated for the felling that the pair had carried out.

The judge said there was a high degree of planning and preparation prior to the felling, but accepted such planning may have only been done earlier that evening.

She said it was less clear whether Carruthers and Graham intended to harm Hadrian’s Wall, describing it as “collateral damage”.

Lambert said Carruthers marked the trunk with spray paint on the night of the offence, before felling it in an act that lasted no more than two and a half to three minutes.

She said Graham took a nearby viewing point and recorded the video of the felling on his mobile phone.

The judge added that police recognised immediately that the trunk had been deliberately cut down. She said that the pair “revelled in their notoriety” during the media coverage after the felling.

Mrs Justice Lambert has begun speaking in court as the hearing resumes.

She said:

You went with the intention of felling the sycamore tree which had grown in the dip of Hadrian’s Wall.

As experienced tree surgeons you took with you the tools which you needed for that task.

The judge said the pair arrived at the site shortly before midnight on 27 September 2023.

She added that they both walked about 15 to 20 minutes to the tree from a nearby car park.

Judge Lambert is now speaking, you can see a feed here

Carruthers and Graham were once close, working and socialising together, but have fallen out since their arrests and each has come to blame the other.

At trial, Graham claimed Carruthers had a fascination with the sycamore, saying he had described it as “the most famous tree in the world” and spoken of wanting to cut it down, even keeping a piece of string in his workshop that he had used to measure its circumference.

Carruthers denied this and told the court he could not understand the outcry over the story, saying it was “just a tree”.

Asked why he showed such an interest in headlines and social media about the felling in the early hours of 28 September 2023, he said:

My understanding was it was just a tree, I couldn’t understand why everyone was sharing it, every second post was about this tree. I just couldn’t get my head round it.

Asked by his barrister Andrew Gurney why he and Graham were messaging each other about the tree, Carruthers said:

I couldn’t really understand why there was such a major outbreak – it was almost as if someone had been murdered.

Graham, who ran a groundwork business near Carlisle, told the court Carruthers must have borrowed his car and phone while he was asleep in his caravan after taking a sleeping pill.

Carruthers, a mechanic living in a caravan in Kirkbride, said he was not at the site of the crime. His barrister said it made no sense for a man to be “gallivanting around the national park cutting down Sycamore Gap” just five days after his partner had left hospital with their newborn baby.

Mark Brown is north of England correspondent at the Guardian, based in north-east England. He has written the below analysis on the significance of the Sycamore Gap tree.

“It was just a tree,” said a mystified Adam Carruthers, one of the two men who illegally cut down the tree at Sycamore Gap in the early hours of a stormy night nearly two years ago. “It was almost as if someone had been murdered.”

Carruthers was right about the reaction to the felling. Many likened its loss to that of a good friend or relative. Its destruction prompted feelings of sadness, grief and then blind fury. Some people wept.

Carruthers was wrong to see it as just a tree. It was a beautiful, life-enhancing place for countless photographs, declarations of love, engagements, birthdays and ash scatterings but it was also more than that. Many considered it part of the DNA of north-east England. Its felling was seen as a symbol of humanity’s wider war on nature. Its legacy is fast becoming one of hope and optimism.

What is certain is that none of these emotions or complexities or nuances were in the minds of Carruthers, 32, and Daniel Graham, 39, when they travelled from their homes in Cumbria over the border to Northumberland on 27 September 2023.

As Storm Agnes raged, the two friends set off in Graham’s black Range Rover Sport with a chainsaw in the boot. When they got to the tree, which has stood on Hadrian’s Wall since the late 19th century, they set about deliberately and methodically cutting it down. They apparently saw it as a laugh.

You can read more of Mark Brown’s article on the Sycamore Gap tree here: ‘Stealing joy’: the sadness and symbolism of the crime at Sycamore Gap

Andrew Gurney, for Adam Carruthers, said the defendant played an active role in bringing up his children, ages six and two.

Being in prison since May had been “torture” for him as he had never been away from his children for so long, Gurney said.

It is his stupid actions that have caused him to be taken away from his family and his children.

The defence representative added:

Mr Carruthers is someone who is going to have to bear the burden of what he has done for the rest of his life.

He is a man of previous good character. That is gone.

He will forever be linked to this act.

He will have to carry this as some form of personal penance.

Wright said the two offences were committed jointly by both defendants throughout.

Justice Lambert asked if Wright would consider a four-year sentence sufficient.

He said it was not for the Crown to suggest a specific sentence but the guidelines provided “headroom” for the judge to take the starting point of 18 months and then lengthen the jail term when considering aggravating factors.

Prosecutor Wright said that in their pre-sentence reports both defendants “now appear to have admitted their role in felling the tree, in the sense they both admit they went on the mission”.

He told the court they denied intending for the tree to be cut down, either saying they were intoxicated or that they “didn’t believe it would happen until it did”.

Wright said:

The prosecution rejects these late admissions... The court can be sure they were sober and prepared to do what they did.

He said one of the aggravating factors was the site’s heritage status and the defendants’ attempts to avoid detection.

Wright said they knew other people, including a young boy, had been arrested in connection with the offence and were “closely following (the investigation) when they knew they were responsible”.

Richard Wright, prosecuting, said there was a “high degree of planning and premeditation”.

He told the court:

This was an expedition which required significant planning in terms of taking a vehicle, driving for about 40 minutes to a car park, taking with them appropriate specialist equipment, carrying the equipment for about 20 minutes’ walk in each direction.

The felling was carried out in a deliberate, professional way.

Wright said the prosecution allege that the night was selected because of the weather, and Daniel Graham had said during the trial it was easier to fell a tree in high winds.

National Trust manager Andrew Poad’s victim impact statement said the cost of removing the tree was £30,000, with £20,000 to be spent on the site in 2025, all paid for from charitable funds.

He said an email address set up within days of the felling for people to share thoughts received 600 responses in a month.

One said:

My husband proposed to me at Sycamore Gap under its leafy shelter. A few years ago after lockdown we took our children to see and walk the same section of the wall.

I’m so glad we got to share such a beautiful and special spot with them before it was gone.

A further response said:

A simply iconic part of our North East heritage, representing strength and longevity.

The court was shown pictures of the new Sycamore Gap Celebration Room at The Sill site in Northumberland, and some comments left by people on a board and in the visitors’ book.

One said:

Nature at its best over 300 years, humanity at its worst over one night.

Sarah Dodd is the founding owner and CEO of Tree Law, a firm set up to manage legal issues involving trees.

She says the sentencing of Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers will be a “significant moment”, not just for those directly involved, but for everyone who cares about protecting our natural environment.

She said:

The Sycamore Gap tree wasn’t just any tree. It was an iconic landmark, rooted in history and deeply loved by so many.

Its felling felt mindless. A single act that destroyed something which took centuries to grow and stood as part of our shared landscape. The sense of outrage and sadness it caused shows how much trees matter to people’s lives and identities.

Dodd said she hopes the sentencing will send a “powerful message” about the need to respect and uphold the legal frameworks in place to safeguard the environment.

She added:

This case is unprecedented. We have rarely seen prosecutions like this, and the length of sentencing being considered is a clear reflection of the seriousness with which the court views this crime. It shows that tree protection laws carry real weight, and that damaging our natural heritage is not something that will be tolerated lightly.

Prosecutor Richard Wright said Graham had two previous convictions for battery in 2007 and 2016 and two public order offences in 2021 and 2022.

He said the offences were “all relationship-based” and none resulted in a prison offence.

Graham also had a caution for theft when he cut up logs using a chainsaw and made off with them. He has been in custody since he was remanded on 21 December last year.

Carruthers has no previous convictions, arrests, reprimands or warnings. He has been held since the pair were convicted on 9 May.

The tree’s value was initially assessed as £622,191, while damage to Hadrian’s Wall was calculated to be £1,144.

Richard Wright, prosecuting, said the value of the tree has been disputed, and that the lowest figure the Crown would agree with was £458,000.

Mrs Justice Lambert said she had seen a number of expert valuations and the main point, when it came to sentencing, was that it was worth more than £5,000.

Carruthers and Graham were charged with causing criminal damage worth £622,191 to the tree. They were also charged with causing £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco world heritage site. The wall and the tree belong to the National Trust.

A National Trust spokesperson said:

The needless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree shocked people around the country and overseas, demonstrating the powerful connection between people and our natural heritage.

The tree was a symbol of Northumberland, was the site of countless family visits and featured in the Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

The hearing has resumed and barristers representing Graham and Carruthers have opposed the application for handcuffs to be used in the docks.

The judge has agreed and rejected the application.

The courtroom has been cleared as the session is now in chambers.

This means discussions are being held out of public view and there is no access for the press or public.

The pair felled the tree as Storm Agnes raged in the early hours of 28 September 2023. It had stood for more than 100 years in a fold in the landscape.

Neither Graham nor Carruthers showed any visible emotion as guilty verdicts were delivered at a hearing on 9 May 2025. It took the jury five hours to reach the unanimous verdicts.

The pair saw it as a “bit of a laugh” and afterwards “revelled” in their infamy as the crime made headlines around the world, a jury was told. They thought themselves “big or funny or clever”.

Graham and Carruthers were convicted of criminal damage to the tree and to Hadrian’s Wall, which had been damaged when the sycamore fell on the ancient monument.

Remanding both men into custody, Mrs Justice Lambert said at the hearing in May that they could face “a lengthy period” in jail.

The trial judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, came briefly into court and told prosecuting and defence barristers that there had been an application for Graham and Carruthers to be brought into court in handcuffs.

Lawyers representing both men have now left the courtroom in order to speak with their clients.