Overview
- Daniel Graham was released on licence on Monday after serving about 16 months in custody plus time on remand for cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree.
- Both Graham and Adam Carruthers were convicted at Newcastle Crown Court in July 2025 and each received four years and three months, with the judge ordering 40% of the sentence to be served in custody and the remainder on licence.
- Carruthers was freed earlier in April under the Home Detention Curfew scheme and was fitted with an electronic tag and a requirement to stay at his registered home address.
- At trial the judge found Carruthers felled the tree while Graham drove him to the site and filmed the act, a wedge taken from the stump was never recovered, and the falling tree also caused damage to Hadrian’s Wall.
- The National Trust reports strong regrowth around the stump and propagated saplings from the original tree are being planted as memorials, while the Ministry of Justice warns licence breaches could lead to immediate recall to prison.