Man, 37, arrested over hospice tree felling
Helen Knowles, from the hospice, said the community had "rallied round" to help after the tree was felled
- Published
A man has been arrested after a 60ft (18m) sycamore tree in the grounds of a West Yorkshire hospice was found cut down earlier this month.
The felled tree, which was around 30 years old, was discovered outside Wakefield Hospice on 2 February.
A 37-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and had been bailed pending further inquiries, police said.
Since the discovery of the tree, 50 chemical "stump killers" had been found embedded in 10 other trees in the grounds nearby, hospice staff said.
The sycamore was found cut down in the grounds of Wakefield Hospice on 2 February
The devices work by poisoning the roots of a tree, stopping it growing and eventually slowly killing it.
Helen Knowles, the hospice's director of income generation, described the latest discovery as "absolutely sickening".
Ms Knowles said: "For over 30 years, we have been here for one simple reason – to provide patients and their families with the highest level of care and support at the time they need it most.
“To think that someone out there, in our local community, has that much disdain towards our hospice grounds and has the sheer audacity to attempt to kill off our beautiful trees – well, there are simply no words for it.”
'Deeply saddening'
Built in 1990 on Aberford Road in Wakefield, the hospice cares for people who are terminally ill.
A hospice spokesperson said security would now need to be "re-evaluated" as a result of what had happened, adding that it was "deeply saddening".
However, Ms Knowles told BBC Radio Leeds people living in the local community had "really rallied round" the hospice by offering replacement trees.
"That's just truly wonderful and it shows there are people out there who care," she added.
A hospice spokesperson said there were "simply no words" for what had happened
In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: "A 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and has been bailed pending further inquiries.
"Officers are aware that further damage has been caused to trees on the premises following the initial report to police and this is also being investigated."
The felled tree was initially thought to have been a lime tree, but a tree surgeon hired by the hospice told BBC Radio Leeds on Friday that it was a sycamore.
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, external, X (formerly Twitter), external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.