Image source, PA Media

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers are now beginning their jail terms for felling the beloved Sycamore Gap tree.

It had grown for more than 100 years in a dip on Hadrian's Wall but took just over two and a half minutes to come crashing down in the early hours of 28 September 2023, Carruthers severing the trunk with a chainsaw while Graham filmed it on his mobile phone.

Carruthers claimed it was "drunken stupidity" but the judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, said it was "sheer bravado" with the men getting a thrill from the outrage they caused and revelling in their notoriety.

The National Trust, which has managed the tree in Northumberland since 1942, said the landmark had "belonged to the people" and its mindless destruction was beyond comprehension.

For felling the tree, the men were each jailed for four years and three months, with a further six months to be served concurrently for the damage they caused to Hadrian's Wall.

Fiona Trott
Reporting from Newcastle Crown Court

When you report on a killing or an assault, you can anticipate what the sentence will be.

This was very different.

Although it looked like and felt like a murder trial - the worldwide reaction, the police investigation, the media attention - this was not about a person.

It was about a tree and a Roman wall.

When it comes to damage, how do you measure that? The National Trust did.

The wellbeing, workload and emotional burden on its staff has been profound, it says. All set against a backdrop of people wanting answers.

Today, we were told for the first time that both defendants had finally admitted it. In the years to come, will their conscience get the better of them and will they tell us why?

Adam Carruthers said he was drunk. The judge rejected this.

Today's sentencing marks the end of a chapter we never expected in the Sycamore's long history.

Without a genuine explanation of why it happened in the first place, you wonder if the story itself is over.

Erica Witherington
Reporting from Newcastle Crown Court

"It's disgusting."

That was Sheila Hillman's verdict on the sentence passed down on the pair who had cut down the tree she had loved since childhood.

At 78, she came here to court - for the first time in her life - hoping to see "justice done".

And, in her view, it was not.

"It was just a tree," Adam Carruthers opined from the witness box back in May. "You would have thought someone had been murdered."

As she was watched just now around the world, it was Mrs Justice Lambert's job to put a price on what he and Daniel Graham had done.

The sentencing guidelines gave her a starting point of one and a half years in prison. On the day, she has not held back. She bumped that up significantly to four years and three months.

It did not escape Mrs Hillman, though, that the pair will only serve 40% of that time inside.

"I can't see any sense," she said.

"What has that tree done to them?"

Mrs Justice Lambert said the men were motivated at least in part by "sheer bravado" and "thrill-seeking".

At the sentencing hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Mrs Justice Lambert jailed Graham and Carruthers for four years and three months each for felling the tree.

They will also serve six months concurrently for the "collateral" damage they caused to Hadrian's Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site and protected monument.

Fiona Trott
Newcastle Crown Court

I have just asked the officer in charge of the case - Det Insp Calum Meikle - what his reaction is to the sentence.

He simply smiled and left the courtroom.

Image source, Getty Images

Leading officer Det Insp Calum Meikle says there has been "some disagreement with regard to the overall value of the tree", with the Northumbria Police originally using the CAVAT system to value it at about £620,000.

This system considers the value of the tree over its expected lifetime and takes into consideration social and cultural value, according to Forest Research.

The value was already under dispute when Graham and Carruthers were found guilty in May.

Richard Wright KC told the court earlier the prosecution put the tree's value at about £458,000 but, from a legal perspective, the "important thing" was it was agreed it was more than £5,000, which was the threshold for putting it into the higher category of harm.

“It really doesn’t matter though, does it?” Det Insp Meikle says.

“If you consider the impact of the action as opposed to purely looking at a value of a tree, because you can’t replace it.

“So I think, whilst there is an importance because of the criteria or the changing methodology for the overall value, you’ve got to take into consideration what the impact of the act has been.”

Image source, PA Media

Northumbria Police has welcomed the jail terms given to Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers.

Supt Kevin Waring says it was "truly a mindless act of vandalism" and there could "never be a justifiable reason for their actions that night".

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Susan Dungworth, says the "unfathomable felling" had "generated outrage and upset among many people who had taken Northumberland’s iconic tree to heart".

She says Graham and Carruthers have now been "brought to justice for their senseless act" and praises the investigators who "worked tirelessly on this intense and determined investigation".

"Today, those who sought to destroy nature’s poignant symbol of Northumberland have been held accountable," she says.

The leading officer on the case, Det Insp Calum Meikle, said Northumbria Police was made aware of Graham and Carruthers when information was given to the force identifying the pair as responsible.

"As with any police investigation, we rely upon intelligence being passed," he said.

The pair were arrested in October 2023.

Image source, PA Media

The National Trust, which has managed the tree since 1942, says it is "deeply grateful" for the thousands of messages of support it has received from around the world since the felling.

"The enduring sense of loss reflects the powerful bond between people and our natural heritage," a spokesman says.

"The Sycamore Gap tree was iconic and represented thousands of cherished trees across the country that benefit people, nature and climate.

The trust is committed to securing stronger protections "for these irreplaceable natural treasures", he says.

A trunk of the tree was recently installed as part of a permanent display at The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre near the site.

The National Trust has also grown 49 trees, one for each foot of the felled sycamore's original height, to be planted around the country.

Image source, PA Media

Following the sentencing, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says the felling had been a "deliberate act" of "mindless destruction" by Graham and Carruthers.

Christopher Atkinson, Head of the Complex Casework Unit for CPS North East, says the men then sought to "evade the consequences" by "cynically lying about the part they each played", but their "fabricated accounts" had been "picked apart" by investigators.

"No financial figure alone could ever convey the true scale of damage caused by the pair's actions," Mr Atkinson says.

"The universal reaction of disapproval and anger following the destruction of the site speaks volumes of the emotive impact on the public.

"We only hope that those affected by these events can take some comfort in seeing those responsible jailed today."

We will hopefully be bringing you some reaction to the sentencing of Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers.

In the meantime, you can see in this video what Northumbria Police said after the men were convicted.

Supt Kevin Waring said the tree "held a special place in the hearts of many" and its destruction had been "devastating".

"We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals," he said.

Erica Witherington
Reporting from Newcastle Crown Court

Neither man in the dock showed any reaction as they stood to receive their sentence.

Carruthers left first, casting a brief final glance towards the public gallery.

After hanging back a moment, Graham followed, hands in his pockets.

Mrs Justice Lambert also made an order for the forfeiture and destruction of Daniel Graham's Range Rover and mobile phone, both of which were used in the felling mission.

The court has heard the chainsaw used and the chunk of trunk taken as a trophy have never been recovered.

Mrs Justice Lambert says the men will be released no later than 40% through their prison sentences.

Graham has been on remand since December while Carruthers has been held since being convicted in May.

They were each jailed for four years and three months for cutting down the tree and a further six months to be served concurrently for the damage caused to Hadrian's Wall.

Two men who chopped down the beloved Sycamore Gap tree have been jailed for four years and three months.

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, drove from their home in Cumbria to illegally fell the tree in the early hours of 28 September 2023.

The judge is now discussing the sentencing guidelines and aggravating and mitigating features.

She says one such aggravating feature is the damage to the wall, a world heritage site and protected monument.

She says it is a major archaeological site and important tourist draw for the region.

Having detailed Graham's history of depressive illness, Mrs Justice Lambert says his offending was not "caused by or linked" to his mental health.

The court hears Carruthers, a 32-year-old father of two, has shown "emerging remorse".

But, the judge adds, he is "still struggling to accept responsibility for your actions or to recognise impact of your actions on others".

Daniel Graham, 39, also "savoured" other people being investigated for the felling he had carried out, the judge says.

Two people were arrested in the aftermath with Graham making internet searches about them, the court has heard.

The judge says Graham has a history of depressive illness and has made a number of attempts on his own life in the years since the suicide of his father.