TWO men accused of felling the famous Sycamore Gap tree and damaging part of Hadrian’s Wall will today stand trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
Both Daniel Graham, 39, and 32-year-old Adam Carruthers have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal damage.
The tree – centrepiece of one of the most iconic scenes along the 73-mile wall built under Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD 122 – was valued at £620,000, with repairs to the historic wall assessed at £1,100.
“The prosecution say the tree was deliberately felled on September 28 last year and the resultant fall damaged Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” said prosecutor Rebecca Brown at the opening hearing in May.
“The prosecution say these defendants are responsible as part of a joint enterprise.”
Sycamore Gap had been popular among walkers, photographers and painters for decades, but the tree acquired world-wide fame when it appeared as a backdrop in the 1991 blockbuster ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman.
Until it was cut down, Northumberland National Park chief executive Tony Gates said roughly eight out of 10 enquiries to the visitor centre were from tourists wanting details on how to walk to the tree.
The National Trust removed the bulk of the felled sycamore and placed it in storage while propagating its seeds. Almost 50 saplings from those seeds have been distributed to community projects throughout the UK.
The site of the felling has also been examined closely and regularly be expert arborists who say around 20 shoots had already begun to sprout from the stump.
We’re building an outdoors community on Reddit. Come join us here… r/outdoorsnews.
Find us on Facebook… www.facebook.com/everwildoutdoors
You can follow Ever Wild Outdoors on Twitter… @EWO_tweets
And if Instagram is your thing, we’re there too… www.instagram.com/ever_wild_outdoors/
