Mr Carruthers is now being asked why he shared so many snapshots of social media posts and media reports about the felling with his co-accused the morning afterwards.

He says he woke up to find the news "all over Facebook", adding it was "everywhere".

He says: "My understanding was it was just a tree.

"I couldn't understand why everyone was sharing it. It was like every second post was about this tree, I just couldn’t get my head around it.

"The way it was travelling through the news, I was amazed how something so small could create so much publicity."

Mr Gurney asks: "Did you have a fixation on that tree?"

Mr Carruthers replies: "No, not at all."

Mr Gurney asks Mr Carruthers if he was responsible for cutting down the tree.

"Never," Mr Carruthers replies.

He is asked if he ever, as Mr Graham claims, showed his co-accused a piece of string said to be cut to the length of the circumference of the tree.

"Never," Mr Carruthers replies.

Mr Gurney asks Mr Carruthers if he ever asked Mr Graham to "take the blame" for felling the tree.

"Never," Mr Carruthers again replies.

Mr Graham has told jurors Mr Carruthers took his Range Rover and phone to cut down the tree.

Mr Carruthers tells them he only drove the Range Rover once to help Mr Graham with a job moving equipment in the days after the felling.

He also says he never used his co-accused's mobile phone and did not know the pin code.

"Did you take his phone and record the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree?" Mr Gurney asks.

"That’s incorrect," Mr Carruthers says.

Mr Carruthers is asked why the men's friendship ended.

He says Mr Graham arrived at his yard one night and said: "I'm going to go my way, you're going to go your way, I believe you’ve been grassing on me."

Mr Carruthers is asked what Mr Graham meant, to which he replies: "I'm probably guessing it's something to do with why I'm stood here now. Sycamore Gap."

Mr Gurney asks: "Did you ever grass him up?"

Mr Carruthers replies: "Not at all."

Mr Gurney asks Mr Carruthers how many times he and Mr Graham trimmed trees together.

Mr Carruthers isn't sure but says "maybe five or six", and says he offered to help his friend, with the pay for the job being halved between the men.

"We would basically, like, get on the tree, cut some branches off, get it to a state where it could be chopped down."

He says he was "not sure" where the equipment they used came from, adding the tools were "already there" when he arrived at the job and he did not supply them.

When asked if he knows how to use a chainsaw, Mr Carruthers says: "I know briefly how to use a chainsaw.

"I wouldn't say I'm a chainsaw expert. Within a couple of minutes you could teach anyone how to use one.

"It's just the dangers that surround them."

Mr Carruthers tells jurors he has never felled a tree.

Now Mr Carruthers is being asked about his relationship with his co-accused Daniel Graham.

"We just kind of stumbled upon each other as friends," Mr Carruthers says, detailing how it started by him fixing Mr Graham's father's Land Rover "three or four years ago".

Mr Gurney asks: "Did you become good friends?"

Mr Carruthers replies: "Yeah I'd have said we were good friends, aye."

He says they spoke on the phone daily, calling in the morning for the "craic", again at dinner time and in the evening to see how the day had gone, and saw each other three or four times a week.

He says they also worked together a few times, from laying down a driveway to trimming trees.

Mr Carruthers is giving the jurors some information about his life.

He says he works as a mechanic maintaining farm machinery and also "looks after" some residential flats.

Mr Carruthers says he would have a go at fixing anything mechanical, from blenders to big quarry machines.

He also tells jurors his daughter was born days before the tree was felled and he was very busy at the time looking after both her and his partner of 10 years.

Mr Carruthers is being questioned first by his barrister Andrew Gurney.

He starts by swearing an oath to tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth".

Mr Gurney asks: "Mr Carruthers, did you cut down the tree at Sycamore Gap?"

Mr Carruthers, dressed in a navy suit and grey tie, replies: "No."

"Did you record the Sycamore Gap tree being cut down?" Mr Gurney asks.

Mr Carruthers replies: "No."

Image source, Nick Lewis

Adam Carruthers is now taking to the witness box.

This is the first time jurors have heard from him directly. The only time they've heard his side was from his police interviews.

In those, Mr Carruthers had denied having any involvement in felling the tree and said he did not have the training or expertise to carry out such a large operation.

His once-good friend and now co-accused Daniel Graham has told jurors Mr Carruthers was fascinated with the tree, admitted chopping it down and took Mr Graham's Range Rover and phone to get to the scene and record the felling.

Mr Graham claimed Mr Carruthers then asked him to take the blame as Mr Graham's "mental health issues" would see him dealt with more leniently.

Mr Carruthers' barrister accused Mr Graham of lying.

The case against Mr Carruthers rests chiefly on his communications with Mr Graham, the court has heard.

The pair were:

• Known to be good friends who worked together on groundworks projects, including chopping up trees
• In regular phone contact throughout 27 September 2023 until the night, at which time prosecutors say they were together
• Exchanging "excited" messages in the days afterwards sharing screenshots of the public outrage, with Mr Carruthers saying in voice notes it was all over the news and someone who criticised them did not have the "minerals" to "launch an operation like we did"

Daniel Graham has now finished his time in the witness box.

This morning he told jurors he had nothing to do with felling the tree but that his friend and co-accused Adam Carruthers had admitted carrying it out.

He denied he was "excited" about media interest in the felling and said he only shared the same interest as "half the world" in finding out what had happened, adding it was "not a crime" to search for news about it on his phone.

He said he initially thought Mr Carruthers was joking when he claimed to have cut down the tree but later came to realise it was true, although he could not remember when that happened.

Mr Graham also said he did not lie to police but also did not want to "grass" on his friend, although he later pointed the finger at him in an anonymous phone call when his own reputation and business was being ruined by accusations.

Mr Knox ends his re-examination of Mr Graham with a question.

"Did you have anything to do with, or were you the filmer of, that cutting down?"

Mr Graham replies: "I did not film it and I did not cut it."

Mr Graham has spent more than four hours in the witness box in total - about three hours or so on Friday and a further hour this morning.

Mr Knox is asking why Mr Graham wouldn't "name names" in his police interviews.

Mr Graham has told jurors he knew Mr Carruthers had done it but did not want to "grass" him up.

"Why wouldn't you name him?" Mr Knox asks.

"At the time he was my pal," Mr Graham says.

He tells jurors he later made an anonymous call to police to point the finger at Mr Carruthers because he did not feel officers had been as extensive in their searches of his co-accused as they should have been.

"If they'd done their job properly, they would have found everything they needed to find."

Mr Wright closes his cross-examination of Daniel Graham by asking him again if he was the second person in the two-man operation to fell the tree, to which Mr Graham replies he was not.

Mr Graham is now being re-examined by his barrister Christopher Knox.

Mr Knox starts by asking him about the previous time he turned his phone off to avoid being tracked and who he thought he was being tracked by.

Mr Graham says it was his partner, with whom he was having an argument at the time, and didn't want her to know where he was.

The court has heard Mr Graham's phone was turned off or put on airplane mode as it approached the Sycamore Gap tree site, and reconnected as it was heading away from it.

Mr Wright asks Mr Graham why anyone would want to turn their phone off as they got close to a site where they were going to commit a crime.

"Not a clue," Mr Graham replies.

Mr Wright asks if, as Mr Graham claims, it was Mr Carruthers using his phone, why would Mr Carruthers turn it off as he was not the one taking a risk?

Mr Graham says turning it off would be of "benefit" to whoever was using the phone.

Mr Wright refers to a message sent by Mr Graham to Mr Carruthers on 24 September saying he had turned his phone off to stop it being tracked.

Mr Graham says he "possibly" turned it off to avoid being tracked.

Mr Wright is now asking Mr Graham about his allegation that Mr Carruthers and another man went to his home and asked him to take the blame for felling the tree.

Mr Graham again snaps at Mr Wright, saying: "You're trying to wind us up and it's working, you're doing a good job."

Mr Wright asks Mr Graham why he made an anonymous call to police to point the finger at Mr Carruthers?

Mr Graham replies: "If it's costing me money and affecting my business, then I will be a grass."

It's getting a bit heated between Mr Graham and Mr Wright.

Mr Graham has accused the barrister of putting words in his mouth.

Mr Wright is asking if statements made in his police interview were a lie, to which Mr Graham replies: "Everything seems to be a lie according to you."

Mr Wright says: "I'm suggesting this whole interview is a lie?"

Mr Graham replies: "Well I'm suggesting to you it isn’t."

He goes on to say to the prosecutor: "You're standing here calling me a liar and expecting me to answer your questions. Well I've had enough, I've had enough of you calling me a liar."

Mr Graham told police he had no training in felling a large tree.

Mr Wright says there is a video filmed a month before the Sycamore Gap tree was chopped down of Mr Graham and Mr Carruthers cutting up a large tree.

Mr Graham says it is "correct" he had no training in felling a large tree and the video showed them "dismantling" a tree.

"Dismantling a tree is totally different to felling a tree," he tells jurors.

The prosecutor Mr Wright is now asking Mr Graham about his first police interview on 31 October at Carlisle Police Station.

Mr Graham confirms that he knew his car and phone had been taken that night but did not know for a fact they had been used in the felling of the tree.

Mr Graham claims Mr Carruthers had admitted to him his involvement in the felling.

Mr Wright asks why Mr Graham didn't tell that to police, to which Mr Graham replies: "Why should I?"

The prosecutor asks why Mr Graham lied in his police interview, to which Mr Graham replies: "What lies?

"Because I didn’t walk in to the police station and give a name it wasn’t a lie, was it?"

When asked why he didn't tell the police more, he says: "At this minute in time I don't know."

Mr Wright says: "You did know who had done it, didn't you?"

Mr Graham replies: "Possibly. Because I haven't given the police the answer you're wanting, that's down as a lie?"

Mr Graham is asked why he remained friends with Mr Carruthers if he thought he had felled the tree.

Especially, Mr Wright says, if - as Ms Mr Graham claims - Mr Carruthers put him in danger by taking his Range Rover and phone to carry out the act.

Mr Graham says he was not being put in danger but rather a "situation", adding he was "possibly" annoyed at Mr Carruthers but that was "not a reason to fall out with someone".

Mr Wright asks: "Why did you want to have anything to do with him at all if you thought he cut down the Sycamore Gap tree?"

Mr Graham replies: "So if someone does something wrong does that mean you shouldn’t be friends with him, is that what you're saying?"

He also says he cannot remember how he felt or what he thought when he was arrested on 31 October.

Mr Wright is now asking Mr Graham about internet searches about the tree made by Mr Graham on his phone in the days afterwards.

"Why the continuing interest?" the prosecutor asks.

Mr Graham replies: "So did half the world have an interest."

Mr Wright says: "Do you agree you were pretty obsessive about Googling this tree?"

Mr Graham replies: "I wouldn't call it obsessive, no."

Mr Wright asks: "Why were you continuing to search for, screenshot, look at videos about this tree?"

Mr Graham replies: "To see what was happening. Why did half the world do it?"

Mr Wright says he is asking why Mr Graham was doing it, to which Mr Graham replies: "I'm telling you to have a look."

He says he then searched for the name of a man who had been arrested because it had been "on the news", adding that making such searches was "not a crime".

He says he "very possibly" knew by that time Mr Carruthers had done it but he "can't give a time or date" for when the "penny dropped".